If the purpose of our criminal justice system is to reform individuals so that they won’t commit crimes again, sometimes I wonder if jail is the best answer. For violent criminals, jail might serve to separate them from society so that they don’t harm anyone else. But for some lesser crimes, fines and other creative punishments might be the way to go.
Take for instance, the case of a mother and daughter in Pennsylvania. Recently, the pair, ages 56 and 35 respectively, swiped two gift cards from a 9-year-old girl at a Wal-Mart, totaling about $80. It was the girl’s birthday, and she had come to Wal-Mart to use the cards, but had placed them on a shelf temporarily while a store clerk helped her. The mother-daughter duo was caught, arrested, and taken to court. During the hearing, the judge offered probation instead of jail time, if the women stood in front of the courthouse holding signs that read: “I stole from a 9-year-old girl on her birthday! Don’t steal or this could happen to you!” (See pictures below.)
Does anyone think this was not an apt punishment? The women will still serve probation, but avoided jail time by publically humiliating themselves. Clearly, the 4 ½ hours they spent in front of the courthouse took less time, but I wonder if the humiliation they suffered was more psychologically damaging than a few days in a local county jail.
What are your thoughts? Is this type of sentencing a viable, low-cost alternative to putting minor offenders in jail with taxpayer money? Or were they let off the hook too easily?
Leave a comment with your thoughts.
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Yes I agree with creative sentencing because it would be more likely to deter someone from committing crimes. Some people commit crimes in hope of jail time to get them off the street therefore increasing the expenses of the city/tax payers incurred in the housing of the criminals.
With creative sentencing these potential criminals have more to sacrifice or lose by committing crimes.
I agree that creative punishment sentencing for small, petty crimes. People make mistakes, the largest being “I wont get caught”. If the petty criminal dislikes the punishment greatly (jail), then he/she is more likely to retaliate against it (the “I’ll get you back for this” mentality) when released. If offered a choice, then the criminal is really sentencing themselves, less of the “I’ll get you back for this” mentality. We parents are taught the same thing about our kids, if they want something we don’t want them to have, offer some choices pointing them in the direction we want them to go. As for the psychologically damaging thinking, wouldn’t jail do the same thing to some, maybe more so.
Thanks for the good comments, John. As we work toward a better criminal justice system, perhaps we should concentrate less on a “lock ‘em up,” mentality and start concentrating on policies and practices that actually make our society better.
This is better because being humiliated like this everyone will remember this scum and will watch them to make sure they don’t steal from another little girl.