A man robbed a store, getting a thousand dollars, which he spent on drugs. A few hours later he was arrested and charged with the crime. Since he had no money a Public Defender was appointed and a trial was scheduled. The man was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison and a year of probation. Sounds great doesn’t it? The system worked exactly as it is designed, but was justice done?
The owner of the store had a thousand dollars of his money taken, but he got nothing back, and in fact lost several hours of work reporting the crime and testifying as to what happened. He has received no justice. A public Defender was paid at least fifty dollars and hour, for preparing and presenting the thief’s defense, and the prosecuting attorney was paid a similar amount. A Judge was paid to hear the case, and a dozen people were forced to take time off from work to serve as jurors. While they are partially reimbursed for the time off, it rarely covers the wages they lost. Police were paid for investigating the crime. Because the man stole a thousand dollars, taxpayers have been ripped off for at least ten thousand dollars, but we are not done yet.
We are told costs an average of about sixty five thousand dollars to keep a prisoner in jail for a year, and another two thousand for a probation officer to oversee his probation, which will also be paid by the taxpayers. Almost eighty thousand dollars have been taken from innocent people because a thief stole a thousand from one of them. Clearly an injustice has been done to the victim, taxpayers, and the jury.
Had the thief been forced to work at just five dollars and hour for forty hours a week, he could have paid off the thousand dollars in just five weeks. Instead he is imprisoned for a year. He has been deprived unfairly of forty seven weeks pay by being sentenced to prison.
How can a system which is so patently unjust be called justice? The only beneficiaries are lawyers, and government employees such as police officers, jailers and court employees.
Very thought provoking post! The prison system is certainly overrated even as a deterrent, yet we the public will usually vote for a 'law and order' politician, who promised more police and more jails. Keep thinking and talking.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stafford. Because it is so unjust, i feel that the present system actually aggravates crime, rather than deterring it, by creating resentment. If a thief simply had to repay his theft plus a a legitimate interest level, it would be seen as only fair. When he is treated unfairly, he resents it. When innocent people are penalized, there is no incentive to do right.
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