[Note: This post is part of a series of argumentative reflections, short views on a given subject, for one of my online coursera class. You may see the other notes here [1]:]

As someone who has had the misfortune of living around prison towns [2] and who has been concerned about the relationship between prison and the exploitation and further damaging of vulnerable people (even if many of them are evildoers) [3], I find a great deal that troubles me about the emphasis modern societies place on prison terms as an expression of the seriousness of a crime as well as the fact that prison is viewed as making someone pay a fictitious debt to society by either being involved in unsafe or unproductive labor or by enforced solitude and idleness. Worse yet, this sort of imaginary debt to society often leaves the criminal more crippled by abuse and other mental and emotional issues, and even less equipped than before to live a productive life, after having been put a way for years at considerable public expense (often greater than the price of sending someone to college). Considering the waste that this involves, it is remarkable that the practice is so common, not only in the United States but around the world.

What would be much preferable would be some sort of constitutional guidance that did not pretend that a prisoner was paying a debt to society, but that focused on a real debt to the victim. Although money cannot compensate entirely for the losses suffered, for example, by the family of a murder victim or by someone tormented by anxiety and trauma because of kidnapping, rape, or abuse, it is important that at least in some crimes (like theft, for example), the payment of the real debt to the victim allow for greater justice on at least two counts. For one, by focusing on the real debt that criminals owe for their crimes, we can help to minimize the damage that results to people from crimes and also reduce the reliance on insurance as a way of repaying the damage suffered from others. Additionally, by providing a real debt that can be paid by the criminal, we can ensure that once a criminal has paid his or her debt, there is a restoration of privileges and of respect as an honored member of society, rather than a lifetime of reduced privileges and second-class status because of the mistakes of the past. Focusing on real debts rather than making society the wronged party for the evil actions of people protects both the victim as well as the criminal, and also manages to overcome some of the worries about the creeping and overweening power of the state.

What would be necessary, besides an obedience to biblical law, which is admittedly unpopular in contemporary society, for such a view to prevail? For one, much of the current focus on having prisoners as slaves does not serve to the benefit of the people at large, much less serve to compensate those who have suffered as a result of crimes. However, the fact that the 13th Amendment of the United States [4] still allows for slavery as a punishment for crime means that theoretically the potential exists for there to be recompense made to victims, if the political will allows for it. Perhaps a more drastic shift that would need to be made is the recognition that while God is the primary victim of sin, as the Creator of the universe, that the state is not the primary victim of crime but rather the servant of the citizenry in order to restrain evil and provide justice. When the state can do its job properly with regards to recognizing that it is a servant and to stop trying to usurp the justice that is due to victims, then perhaps we may see a more just criminal system than the one that now does such harm to so many for so long.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/argumentative-reflection-the-lot-falls-in-the-lap/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/argumentative-reflection-thoughts-on-the-stranger/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/argumentative-reflection-luck-equality-and-freedom/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/argumentative-reflection-justice/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/argumentative-reflection-do-we-need-a-state/

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/the-prisoner/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/prison-towns/

[3] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/slavery-through-the-back-door/

[4] http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment13.html