Real criminals deserve to get real punishments

By: Adam Moncure

Posted: 1/19/04

Some recent headlines from Singapore have gotten me thinking, rather than spend billions of dollars arresting the same 'rehabilitated' criminals, why not create a legal system where criminals will think twice about the crime they commit. When someone sneaks across the border from Mexico all we do is deport them. We give them no reason not to just try again in a few days (sometimes even the same day they were deported). Would the same person try again if they knew a lengthy prison sentence awaited them upon capture? Well maybe they would given our luxurious prison conditions, I will get to that in a few moments, regardless it would act as more of a deterrent than a free ride home. What if we adopted Singapore's practice of corporal punishment for criminals? If I were planning to sneak into the US, I would certainly think twice if I could be thrown in prison and caned for it. Would a vandal want to paint graffiti if they faced corporal punishment? It would at least make sure they got adequately punished for it. Then there is the death penalty; in America we only apply it to serial murders and other particularly heinous acts of murder, but why is this? It is because we are a society that does not like to take responsibility for its actions, a criminal who commits a crime is viewed as a victim of society not a criminal. We feel they need to be coddled and rehabilitated it. What if instead we punished them? Not only would future criminals think twice before committing a crime, but those who choose to will get a real punishment.

This is one of the problems with our prisons as well. The conditions are too good, we are so kind to our criminals that some of them prefer to be in prison than on the street. It eliminates any deterrent effect the law may have. When a criminal has a better life in prison than a minimum wage worker the system needs to be reworked. Reducing the amenities of prisoners would not only increase the deterrent effect of prisons, but will also serve to save society money. Further criminals should be repaying society, not be acting as a further drain on it. If a criminal wants help being a better prison they should get it, just after they are released. Infact we could employ them for the betterment of society. Besides our current system of rehibilitation, release and reincarceration is failing misarably.

At the same time if we are to increase punishments we need to make sure laws are reasonable and deserve to be respected. How can we expect criminals to obey a law that makes no sense or is overly restricted. Speed limits are a great example, just about everyone speeds, not becuase they like to break the law ,but becuase speed limits are unreasonably restrictive. This is just one of many examples of laws that if changed to be more reasonable would improve sociatal respect for the law.

Instead of just sending back illegal workers, what if we adopted an approach that reflected Singapore's? What if instead of just deporting them, we took their savings and threw them in prison for awhile? It would basically defeat the purpose of coming illegally to America if when they left they were no better of than they began. The incentive to break the law would be diminished. The result would be few criminals. What if we again followed Singapore's example and executed drug traffickers? Would as many people traffic in drugs if they faced a death sentence? At the very least changes like this would reduce the number of repeat offenders. When we get tough on criminals we will finally start to make progress in the war on crime. Until then we will continue to spend billions on law enforcement with minimal returns.