2010-04-22

Petty Crime Doesn't Always Need A Punishment

In The Blue Carbuncle, Sherlock Holmes explains why he chose to not report a thief to the authorities:

"This fellow will not go wrong again. He is too terribly frightened. Send him to the gaol now, and you make him a gaolbird for life."

How many people, I ask, are doing time for petty crimes? How many of those would be better off serving society and community otherwise? How many have we indeed lost for being too harsh? Crime and punishment is a delicate balancing act. Go too soft and that sends the wrong signals, be too hard and you run the risk of destroying lives that could be saved.

Yes, it's true we've taken these words to heart in some cases but in others can it be said the same? Then again, how many people roll their eyes whenever they see someone ask for leniency? When I watch Law & Order, I sometimes find myself against McCoy and the DA. Over aggressive DA's scare me.

I do believe a person who commits a crime can be frightened to the point of never repeating.

Call me a bleeding heart. Ga'head.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/23/2010

    Balancing act is the right way to describe this.

    Forget the TV shows. They aren't called "crime dramas" for nothing. The answers to our problems have to be fashioned from real life.

    Recidivism rates and severity of the crimes have to be the big guides here. An habitual offender isn't going to likely reform. A criminal of a certain type, child molesters being a good example, are not going to get reformed no matter how much counseling or moving about from place to place (sound familiar?), so we need to think about what it takes to keep these people locked away.

    The dumbass kid that breaks a few windows or gets caught with a pint of booze is probably a different sort of problem. True, drugs and booze can end up as an addiction and that can be the cause of much worse crimes (it takes cash to get high), but there is probably a lot of room to work in the context of reform instead of a life destroying criminal record.

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  2. True about tv but the basic dilemma's presented are still worth pondering.

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  3. Wish Harper and Vick Toews would read this post and Zeus's comment.

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