Day: January 20, 2013

Sunday Contemplation (20 Jan 2013)

While we discuss the whole gun-control issue, I think we should include crime and punishment in the debate, I have heard many times, as I am sure you have, “even if it saves only one life, we should do….”.  A valid point, if not a bit too cutesy for my tastes, but if one takes that chain of thought and expands upon it, should we not punish the perpetrators of such crimes in such a fashion, as to discourage others of repeating them?

I realize such a statement is rather insipid of me, but nevertheless, it is at least as accurate as the former.  If we stop catering to our criminals because I don’t know about you but for me, it is not more morally acceptable to be raped, murdered, and buried in a shallow grave, than to be executed by lethal injection.

Along those lines, I feel imprisonment should be broken into a punishment phase and a reintegration/rehabilitation phase, but I also feel that less people should be imprisoned, I am in full agreement with a new judicial trend, of using public humiliation to help convicted criminals to change their ways

[ http://duquesnejurismagazine.blogspot.com/2012/12/unique-punishes-given-by-judges-is.html ].

While I realize, that some would consider this cruel and unusual punishment, It is NOT, it is an effective deterrent to future crime, not only by the convicted, but by others, hence why its use has been widespread through out history, and if it saves only one life….it’s worth it, right?

 

But I digress, for more serious crimes (as all crime is serious), certain ones should result in the death penalty, and imprisonment should under NO Circumstances be easier than life in the military, no air conditioned cells, no 3 hot meals and a comfy bed, no televisions, no computers, no conjugal visits (now known as “Sunday visits or extended family visits), no cell phones, and no time to work out until you are a mass of muscle, no time to conspire for more crime or learning of more criminal skills.  Some type of work detail should be effected so the criminals help pay for their imprisonment, albeit under severe oversight so it is not exploited for personal gain.

So short, acute punishment by imprisonment, a longer mandatory restriction of freedom focusing on skills to reintegrate into society as a productive citizen, for the less severe felony offenses, execution for the more severe felonies, and a mixed system of short term imprisonment, public humiliation, fines, and public work duties than reintegration back into society, seem to be a much more logical way to deal with crime, rather than what appears to be the wildly random system now in effect, the only common theme is that certain members of our society seem to get preferential treatment (for example the young actress, whose life is so obviously out of control, arrested 5 times including 2 DUIs and twice with cocaine in her pocket, total time behind bars?  Not long enough for her to need a new mani/pedi, including one stint that lasted a mind boggling 86 whole minutes).

 

That is my thoughts for today, a rambling, pain induced, sleep deprived,  semi-coherent thought for posterity, I will probably pretty it up at a later date.

 

One other thing, totally on a separate stream, but do you know the immense health benefits of garlic?  Garlic is like a super powerhouse of goodness wrapped in yummy flavor, that can be used to upgrade almost any meal.  You should check it out.

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/health.htm

 

 

 

time for a quick nap, hopefully 😀