Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Justice - To Punish Or To Restore... What Is The Answer

Today's blog....

Howard Jones – New Song

Blog City – Day 385

Prompt: Although present justice systems depend on punishment, do you think a restorative justice system--in which the criminals are healed of their ills, educated, and uplifted as to their outlooks on life--might work better for our societies?

When it comes to brutal crimes - murder, child abuse and rape - I have little to no compassion for the offender. Punishment to the full letter of the law - death if possible.... but that is not very Christian of me.

I find if we could get to these individuals as children we might be able to save them from going down the criminal road in the first place. Give them hope and set them on a path to follow their dreams, help them to overcome the family lives they have been saddled with and bring them out of that way of life so that poor patterns can be broken.

We want to protect them and raise them out of the mire, but we cannot save them all. We can only try to heal their hurts and help them flourish.

Teaching them a trade and setting them on the right path is not a bad way to go, but people also need to be willing to give them a second chance when they do go back out into society. There is nothing worse than being branded with a criminal label and not being able to shake it.

Proactive and restorative.

Then there are those types that are just sick souls - the ones who do the brutal crimes. Can they ever be helped? Do we really want them back into society - ever? Not particularly.

A kind of related Non - Prompt

I am currently reading a book by Cynthia Bond called Ruby. This poor woman has been sexually abused since the age of five or six... the book is so very compelling. I want to fight for her, scream for her, cry for her, hope for her. I want to kick some ass for those who have abused her and stolen her innocence and I want to hold her and let her know not everyone is sick and demented. She goes crazy when the memories and ghosts of her past begin to hound her. Only one man, a boy who loved her when they were young, is willing to step up and give her that love and kindness.... he may be able to reach her and draw her back from the brink of hell and damnation - caught in the cruelty of her own mind and vengeful memories.

Though this book is a work of fiction, it has stories of things that really did happen in her past and the past of her female relatives. It is heartbreaking and I am hoping for a heart warming ending. It is a glimpse into the dark side of man - the hateful, uncaring part.