Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Criminals born or made?

The latest news is on a new approach to crime, treat the criminal and not the crime by England's Tony Blair.
I've always held the position that criminals are born, it's in their DNA and the chances of children of criminals to turn to a life of crime is very high.

Of course civil libertarians are alarmed at the prospect of a DNA database being used to keep track of criminals and potential criminals.

I bet civil libertarians will be outraged by the prospect of known criminals being deprived of their luxury goods, more than likely financed by the crimes they commit.

To me this approach is better than jail. It's more cost effective and deprives the criminals of the benefits of a life of crime.

You might think this approach is draconian. Well, what does a jail term actually achieve?
Criminals are put into a hothouse environment where they can learn skills from other criminals before being placed back into the community. Does this make sense?

A rapist is still going to rape when he's out of jail. A thief is still going to steal and a murderer is not going to become a bible basher just because he's found God in prison and had his sentence reduced.

Think about all the known criminals that live a life of luxury only because the authorities don't have enough evidence to put them away in jail.
Wouldn't it be exquisite justice if they were deprived of their affluent lifestyle, made possible from illegal activities and kept out of jail.

Now that is justice.
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5 comments:

none said...

I believe most criminals are born with a problem like attention deficit, chemical imbalance etc.. then with a mixture of inconsistent parenting or abusive environment the kids turn to crime. Often times a life of crime is a result of looking for excitement or to pay for drugs.

Kirsten N. Namskau said...

Theoretically, it sounds Okay, but the cases have so many approaches so it's impossible to take them all under one comb. Unfortunately.

Lexcen said...

Maybe it's wishful thinking Kirsten but we have to start somewhere. Let's face it, prison doesn't reduce crime, it only cultivates it. I wouldn't go so far as to advocate cutting off the hand of a thief (sharia law) but prison doesn't stop someone from stealing does it?

Michael said...

Slightly off-topic, but...
A rapist is still going to rape when he's out of jail.

Well, not if you cut off his dick and balls, and pump him full of depo-provera.

I have friends who've been raped, and some things are just unforgiveable...

Lexcen said...

Michael, yes that is a good solution that I would advocate against rapists.

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