Today’s question has to do with the criminal justice system… Specifically, the “justice” side of it.
When you get caught for committing a crime, obviously there are consequences. How bad those consequences are, however, depend on factors like:
- Your age
- How many times you’ve offended before
- Seriousness of the crime
- Nature of the offense
- Ability to pay for legal defense
- Who the judge in your case is
- Public support?
- Your ability to offer bribes
- Etc.
Now, before we jump too far into the murky green waters of this algae-infested debate, I should mention that we’ll be taking a “radical centrist” approach to answering the question, as per the spirit of the Dantian Project. That means being as “holistic” as possible, regardless of whether or not something fits into someone’s vision of their ideal truth.
For example, bribery isn’t supposed to be one of the factors on anyone’s ideal list. At least, not if you aren’t the one doing the bribing. Yet, here we are… Living in a world where someone’s ability and willingness to bribe have a huge impact on whether or not they’ll even get convicted of a crime in the first place.
So, without further adieu, I ask you:
Should we, as a society, focus on the hug a thug method, or should we fry those felons, instead?
Here are a few things to consider:
Rehabilitation
One ex-con I met described his time inside as a “life-saver”.
He’d come from a rough background, with no real family structure to speak of. Whatever support he had evidently needed to be reinforced with stolen property.
That being the case, this man’s imprisonment was as close to inevitable as it could have possibly been when he got busted for auto theft. After three years, he was released on probation.
“You know,” he said, “I never would have gotten out if I didn’t focus on all the programs they had to offer while I was in. I started taking classes and going to therapy… It was the first chance I’ve ever had to actually better myself, so I took advantage.”
Knowing that I was most likely overstepping my bounds, I asked him if he thought that those programs were enough to keep him out of prison in the future. “I’ve heard that some people go in as car thieves and come out murderers. Is that true?”
After a few seconds of careful deliberation, he replied, “Yeah, that can definitely happen. Honestly, it’s too easy for it to happen… You know, these guys, a lot of them have gang affiliations that follow them inside. Once they’re locked up, it’s a matter of who you know and what you can do for them. You know, the ‘life’ won’t let them go.
“But for me, I didn’t want to ever go back, and that’s what keeps me straight.”
I found his answer interesting, not necessarily because it made sense, but because it almost made too much sense. The ideal justice system should be uncomfortable enough to never want to go back to, yet ‘it should also work ‘corrective’ enough to prepare inmates for a new life; one that breaks them free of whatever circumstances might have contributed to their incarceration in the first place.
Punishment
“I get you,” I said.
“I just wonder… does someone who comes from a rough background, where a gang is their only protection, and sometimes even their family… Do they even want to their lives? Or have they just come to accept the fact that sometimes they’re in prison, and other times they’re out?”
As a quick side note, I am eternally grateful for the patience this guy had with me, as I was basically interrogating him about his life in prison. In hindsight, I’m not so sure I would have even been that patient with myself.
Still, he answered with the sort of care that almost made me think he was just as grateful to be asked about it as I was to be humored.
“Yeah, you know, that’s a real thing… People get ‘institutionalized’. They get just as used to being locked up as they do to being free. I mean, if you think about how much time goes by that you don’t even recognize the world when you get out… It’s just easier to live life inside because that’s what you’re used to. That never changes.
“Like for me, I was only in for a few years, but still, there’s all this technology that exists now that wasn’t around when I went in… AI and shit… Imagine someone who’s in for like twenty years getting released. They have no idea how to make it in the world.”
Then, he said something that resonated–
He said, “I know that part of the point of prison is to punish people for their crimes, right? And that makes sense… I get it. Prison isn’t supposed to be comfortable. But there has to be a balance…
“[As convicts], we carry that punishment with us the rest of our lives. It never goes away, even after serving the time. Once a car thief, always a car thief. I have to put that shit on job applications… that I’m a felon. People are always going to know about that part of my life if they just do a little research. That in itself is its own punishment and it never stops.”
That made me think about the real meaning of…
Justice
There’s no denying that if you had your car stolen, you are going to want justice… Being the victim of any crime makes you feel inherently violated, and because of that, we want to know that the person who committed that crime is going to “pay the price”.
But what, exactly, should justice look like in an ideal scenario? How can we ensure that any consequence is going to be substantial enough to show someone the err of their ways? that’s the whole point, isn’t it? To make them feel what we feel, as the one offended…
The reason we want justice at all is because we want the offender to empathize with our pain. We want them to experience it, as we did — to open their eyes.
It begs the question…
What about forgiveness? Is there any responsibility on the victim to forgive the person who harmed them? Is there as much to be gained from understanding why someone committed a crime against us?
The puzzle was further filled in during a conversation with a criminologist… Someone who has dedicated her life to the study of criminal behavior, and how to stop it.
She said, “This is exactly why restorative justice works so well… The kind that involves the victim and the offender in the process.
“Things like restitution, where the offender has to repay whatever they stole, and victim-offender mediation, where the two parties sit down with a trained mediator to talk about the crime – those things are critical if we want the most effective criminal justice system possible.”
Such practices are, in many ways, punishment in and of themselves, namely because they work to hold the offender accountable for their actions. It’s just a different kind of punishment than what people normally think when they imagine violence, solitary confinement and the overall loss of rights that come along with being incarcerated.
But there’s something else…
Financial Cost
According to metrasens.com, the median cost to incarcerate someone for a year is $65,000. As with anything else, however, there’s more to that number than meets the eye…
In states where rehabilitation is the primary focus, the cost goes up. In places like California and New York, for example it can be as high as $100,000/ year to keep someone locked up. That makes sense when you consider the fact that therapists cost money…
In states like Arkansas and Mississippi, on the other hand, the cost drops down significantly – sometimes as low as $23K. Again, it makes sense, if your only focus is providing the absolute bare minimum for prisoners to survive, in an effort to make their stay as punitive as possible.
So, financially, it appears as though it harsh punishment makes the most amount of sense, right?
Or does it?
Recidivism is defined by dictionary.com as a “relapse into criminal behavior”, specifically when it leads to re-incarceration after being released.
Logically, the more times someone is locked up, the more it’s going to cost in the long-run. That why the goal (and a measure of success) of any correctional facility is to reduce recidivism. After all, $100K for five years is still less than $23K for thirty…
Not to mention the lost economic productivity of not having that person participate in the job market.
For the worst possible scenario, the entire country could be a bad as Delaware, which provides a great example of why using a purely financial measure can be misleading.
You see, Delaware has an atrocious recidivism rate, at close to 55%, according to worldpopilationreview.com. The reason*?
- They focus on punitive measures
- They have a cumbersome process to re-entering society, which leads to employment challenges post-release
- There’s a cash requirement for pre-trial bail, which many people can’t afford
- The penalty for violation probation is disproportionately harsh
- Technical probation violations are rampant (meaning someone simply fails to succeed due to technical obstacles)
- Etc.
Well, at first blush, one might think “well that’s what you get when you don’t allocate resources to your prison plan, right? But here’s the thing- Delaware’s cost per inmate is among the highest in the country at over $90k/ year!
Clearly, what they’re doing isn’t working.
On the flip side, we have Texas, where the median cost to house an inmate is well below the national cost, at just over $28K/ year*, and their recidivism rate is still under 17%…
Their secret?
- They provide effective Drug and Alcohol treatment
- There’s an easy bar for re-entering society, including community involvement
- They offer performance incentives to doing well, both in and out of prison
- There are multiple “second chance” policies, such as sealing records for non-violent and first time offenders
- Etc.
The bottom line is that the cost to society goes down significantly when we take a common-sense approach to criminal justice. This, in turn, not only reduces the taxpayer bill, but also the number of victims seeking punishment or retribution in the first place.
Conclusion
In a country that ranks #1 in incarceration rates among independent democracies, can we truly say our system works?
Or are we caught in an endless cycle of sending offenders to two different variations of the same institution:
One that serves as a university for the criminally inclined, and another that functions as a resort for the legally challenged?
Is it possible to stop the pendulum in the middle? Is the Texas Model something that other states should aspire to?
One thing I can say for sure, is that anyone who has had to grow up with a parent behind bars, has had to struggle with addiction, or has seen what it’s like to get caught in a cycle of being in and out of prison, has to feel like all the chips are stacked against them. Especially if you add poverty and/or a bad job market into the mix.
At the same time, if you’re a law abiding citizen, who wants the best possible opportunities for you and your own family in life, then you want nothing more than to live in a safe, respectable community.
So, I leave the question to you – How do we improve our system to best serve everyone? How do we stop the pendulum from swinging between “hug a thug” and “fry a felon”?
Is perfect justice a possibility at all?
Next up: How to make crime in government illegal again… On both sides of the aisle.
References not already cited:
Bever, D. (2023, November 20). Second Chances Hiring Can Benefit Us All. aclu-de.org. https://www.aclu-de.org/news/second-chances-hiring-can-benefit-us-all/
USA Facts Team. (2025, October 31). How Much Do States Spend on Housing Inmates. USAfacts.org. https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-do-states-spend-on-prisons/)
Right on Crime. (2019, August 29). Don’t Mess With Texas’ Crime Statistics. Rightoncrime.com. https://rightoncrime.com/dont-mess-with-texas-crime-statistics/
The Dantian Project seeks to find common truths in modern issues. Please like, share, comment and subscribe to help the conversation reach as many eyes as possible! If you’d like to become a contributor, visit the submission guidelines page.
Leave a Reply