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What should happen to those who commit crime? Should the punishment fit the crime such as a life for a life, or a hand for stealing? What about prisons? Should objectivists feel any reason to pay for prisoner's upkeep, prison maintenance, etc.? What is the regard for human life? |
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There are four potential purposes behind a criminal management system.
My own preference would be to develop a criminal management system that would restrict the freedoms of criminals to that degree enabling them to function without committing crimes. This would be graduated. For example, a person driving drunk would lose driving privileges (i.e., license). If that person again drive inebriated, they would be restricted to some form of "sheltered" facility. They could continue to work and do some activities. If the person then goes on to drive inebriated again, they would probably be placed in a prison and have little freedom indeed. If our society decides that a person must be incarcerated in order assure the safety of other citizens, then we are obligated to provide food, shelter, and health care for that person for the duration of the incarceration. I see no reason for the criminal management system to be involved in management of victimless "crimes" such as personal use of mind altering substances (alcohol, marijuana, etc) in a manner that does not endanger other citizens, having two or more spouses, having a spouse of the same sex, etc 1
Just to pick at one of your points, in a just society, roads would be privately owned and policed. Drivers that breach the agreed upon contract that allowed them the use of a road would be punished solely by the owner of that section of road. That owner may enter into agreement with other road owners forming a group that would recognize a perpetrator of any of the roads belonging to other members as a perpetrator of his. But as far as the government punishing a driver on one road entity for ALL roads in the nation is unjust. So you are saying that free ways should be divided into privately owned sections? So if i owned a section, would I be obligated to maintain it? could i put up a checkpoint or toll crossing to make people pay for using it? dreadrocksean, you have commented on an example I provided. That is fine, however, your comment does not address the concept of restriction of freedoms based upon the malefactor having shown inability to live responsibly. Replace that example with a thief. The same response would see a graduated restriction of freedoms for the individual until we find an environment in which he or she no longer engages in thievery (full imprisonment being the last step. In no event is this considered punishment but it is restriction of freedoms that the individual is unable to "use."
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