Man stabs his girlfriend 100 times

[Ben Davis]

To broaden the conversation, let's be clear, state-sanctioned murder is not justice. The death penalty is immoral and only justifiable by using revenge as a criterion. It's been shown to be ineffective as either a punishment or a deterrent and is even less effective than incarceration.

I'm opposed to current forms of punitive incarceration as I'm a believer of invitational rather than coercive ethics. I believe that rehabilitation and restitution should be the aims of state justice with people only being freed once they have accomplished both. If that means a shoplifter does 20 years but a murderer does 5 then so be it: as long as the person is fit to be reintroduced to society under the 2 criteria, the time served is appropriate. I'm also aware that would mean some people would never be set free (e.g. murdererous psycho/sociopaths).

In practice, we're quite a way away from invitational justice models because there's not enough investment in to:

1. the psychology to understand how we can properly rehabilitate people
2. educating the number of psychologists that would be needed to support them
3. the support that people need to re-enter society
4. the public understanding that rehabilitation is possible & desirable.

Until society & governments truly understand that people who break the law are still people to whom they have responsibilities, we're not likely to see the appropriate level of investment.


P.S. @Arkilogue are you really supporting the prison industrial complex?