The Need for Punishment.

Recently I watched this video:

Now this is not a particularly good video in itself, but it did get me thinking on one point. The hosts of the show get asked by the caller if Hitler gets punished for his evil deeds. Initially both of the hosts try to say that yes he did in his death but the caller then makes a great point that everyone dies so how does that work as a punishment? I think that this is something that a lot of people feel they want – someone who has done wrong should be made to regret that action, they should suffer. However, I really liked what the female host of this show said instead in that the punishment did not matter, what mattered was that the evil that he did stopped. This really struck me. I do think that someone who commits violence against another person should be removed from society so that the can be prevented from hurting others but I think that this idea of punishment is unnecessary. Prison is often seen as a punishment and a way to make criminals suffer, and I do not think that it needs to be seen that way – this should just be a space to remove dangerous people to. Do we really think that making a criminal suffer is going to change anything? It will not undo what was done. It will not make them change how they as a criminal are. So what is the point? Many times criminals who are supposed to spend this time suffering to develop feelings of guilt or sorrow actually end up feeling just the opposite. Many criminals come out of the system worse and more angry.

While it may make some people feel better for a moment to see someone that hurt them getting hurt this is not a beneficial reaction. The idea of justice seems synonymous with revenge, people want to get justice for the families or the victims that were hurt by hurting the criminal. While listening to this caller this also struck me as another central idea in religion. Many bad people or bad actions do not get punished in life, these people will live the violent way that they are and they will not regret it and some may not even get caught at all. The idea that God is watching and he will know is comforting and it removes the responsibility of doing something about these actions from people who are alive. The idea of “they will get what is coming” does two things. First it approves of the revenge and punishment idea as an acceptable way to react. Second it shifts that responsibility to be not our problem. Sadly, Violence and crime in the real world is everyone’s problem and perhaps rather than worry about punishment we should worry about prevention. Instead of worrying about how to make the bad people suffer, worry about how to make the good people heal.