Just Punishment?

-- By DRussellKraft

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Some Starting Assumptions

This essay is written for my classmates at Columbia Law School. In my argument I assume the following things (as well as a great many others):

1. The United States of America are ruled by an aristocracy operating in a procedural democracy
2. We (CLS students) are either inborn members of, or now entering, that aristocratic class
3. The criminal justice system exists largely for the benefit of our class, to maintain the structures that give us wealth and power
4. The form of the criminal justice system is at least to some degree within our control

How do we Justify Criminal Punishment in America?

The Definition of Justification

The word "justify" carries (at least) two important meanings for our understanding of what we do in the name of criminal justice. From the American Heritage Dictionary, the verb Justify can mean:

1. To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid
2. To declare free of blame; absolve

The first of these definitions might be deemed a "scientific" definition - although it deals with what might be "moral" terminology, it requires a showing of evidence in support of a finding. The second definition can rightly be called "moral" on its face, and possibly irrational insofar as it does not specify a "why." It is difficult to justify the current system of criminal punishment in America under either definition.

On What Theories do we Punish?

The theories we use to punish our fellow human beings rest on both of the aforementioned definitions of justification. Utilitarian theories rest more on the first, while retribution finds its basis in the second.

Utilitarianism

Purportedly following the ideas of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), several theories have been advanced over the last two hundred years on why punishment might reduce crime.

Deterrence

The idea of deterrence posits that human beings are less likely to engage in proscribed conduct as that conduct is punished more certainly and more severely. This idea primarily springs from the work of Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), as interpreted by Bentham and later thinkers in the classical school of criminology.

Incapacitation

Incapacitation is a relatively simple idea - the removal of an offender's ability to engage in criminal activity (by incarceration or other means) will reduce crime. It seems obviously effective, but may disregard the cost of the marginal reduction in crime it achieves - making us question whether it has positive social value.

Retributivism

Beyond the idea that punishment might reduce crime (the causal relationship that is at least pseudo-scientific about deterrence and incapacitation), retribution rests on what I call a "moral" theory: that crime justifies (demonstrates to be right) punishment. This theory also justifies (declares free of blame, absolves) the infliction of suffering by third parties. I believe it has its roots in our law in the Bible, which famously offered "an eye for an eye" as equitable retribution.

The Democratic Limiting Principle of Kantian Retributivism

One interesting point made by Immanuel Kant about retribution is that in its most thorough form, it requires both a finding of guilt in order to justify punishment, but also requires punishment to accompany any finding of guilt. In this way there is no punishment without cause, but also no preferential treatment by the law of different people beyond the level of their guilt.

Do These Theories "Work?"

What do They Actually do?

As attractive as some of the theories above are, what is their real value to us, the aristocratic class?

Utilitarian Theories Are at Best Inconclusively Successful

The debate over the effectiveness of deterrence has raged for almost as long as it has been our policy. Humans are not wholly rational actors, and so classical ideas of individual cost/benefit analysis do not seem to accurately predict our behavior. Further, even assuming that some potential criminal acts are deterred by the threat of punishment, the fact that the presence or absence of the death penalty does not in any way predict the prevalence of homicides in a given American jurisdiction should tell us something about even the most high-profile case for deterrence.

In our system, incapacitation primarily takes the form of incarceration. While there may be some class of people whose incarceration truly reduces the risk of their behavior to the rest of society, there is also a sizable class of inmates in our current system whose risky behavior (for example the sale of drugs) will almost inevitably be carried out by some other person in their absence from the street.

Retribution Fails to Meet its Democratic Promise

There is no rational way to argue that our system equally punishes those who are equally guilty. From judge and jury discretion to the massive outcome differential for poor and rich defendants, there are many obvious places where discrimination and inequality make a mockery of the retributive ideal. Beyond the satisfaction of blood-lust, retribution does little to maintain social order.

Does it Matter How we Justify it?

The Cost of Punishment

The total measurable cost of punishment is far greater than its direct cost to the state. Almost unmentioned by my criminal law textbook (the only one I've read) is the vast economic and social toll that punishment takes beyond its obvious fiscal burden. Retributivism is persuasively undercut by some notable critics, but that line of critique also works for utilitarianism. In simple macro-economic terms, our society loses an immense amount of wealth through the absence of the incarcerated from our labor pool. The decrease in expensive crime brought demonstrably by punishment is not worth that cost.

Remedies Not Adapted to the Malady

While utilitarianism at least posits a cause for crime (rational choice by criminals), retributivism focuses solely on its consequences. Modern statistics, however, show evidence that there are more deterministic factors that actually correlate to (and plausibly cause) crime.

A simple plotting of the overall crime rate and the incarceration rate (as a percentage of the US population) will show you that what we're doing just isn't working.

The Availability of Other Means to Reduce Crime

In the face of mounting evidence that our system of criminal punishment is not just (fair), but rather just (only) punishment, perhaps we can abandon the effort to prove the validity (or value) of both utilitarianism and retributivism. While some argue that rehabilitation is both more efficient and more just than the aforementioned theories, it is prevention, through education and economic empowerment, which will provide us the most efficient (and most justifiable) path to stability. By replacing the underlying drivers of crime with the drivers of economic expansion and social cohesion, we might move doubly quickly towards our "aristocratic" goals of wealth and stability.

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-- By DRussellKraft - 28 Feb 2010

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• Your paragraph on retributivism seems to suggest it makes our punishments harsher. From my, admittedly cynical, viewpoint - it's really a limiting factor. From what I've read, Lex Talionis and its variations were a way to say 'You can't kill for this, you can only inflict so much harm.' When we used to kill, now we only jail. It does give moral justification for the harm, but it also attempts to reign in our baser instinct to just kill anyone who fucks with us. Maybe that's your point too, but the paragraph seems to be riding the middle. -- StephenSevero - 28 Feb 2010
  • Stephen - What I'm trying to say is exactly what you suggest: Retributivism certainly has a built-in limiter in the requirement for guilt. To address your criticism, I'm not sure how to get that point as well as the Retributivism's justification of the infliction of suffering by outsiders without some amount of "riding the middle." Do you have suggestions on how I could make it more clear? Cheers. -- DRussellKraft - 28 Feb 2010

• My concern isn't so much with thinking both thoughts, but more about making both explicit. The space limitation makes it difficult, but I think a simple sentence might help clarify the point. Maybe something along the lines "While it restricts the vengeance of the harmed, it also justifies, even requires, a certain state response." I agree with your reference to the bible, and I think a link would help support the point. There's a lot you could use, but I think Deuteronomy 19 would work nicely. -- StephenSevero - 28 Feb 2010
  • I've tossed in a link as you suggest, but I think my first sentence under Kant says essentially that, no? Maybe I'm just unclear (/unable to get quite outside of my own writing yet), and something better might still come to me. -- DRussellKraft - 28 Feb 2010

• I also realize now that my conclusion sounds mighty flippant, and that there are much better reasons to suggest what I suggest. Starting from a modified premise might help the next revision of this. -- DRussellKraft - 28 Feb 2010

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