As the system is set up, that is true. But Western
justice systems are not
set up to mend the community. That
approach belongs more to primitive cultures
- but what a
civilized idea!
If you can find a copy, take a look at
The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr.
Zehr
is a Mennonite minister who has become involved in
working in the correctional
system, trying to get offenders
reintegrated into society. That is the side of
justice that
is not talked about. If someone goes to prison, the chances
of
them returning to prison in the state of Iowa in 2011
over a three year period
was 31.4%, which is better than the
40% rate nationwide. Lengthen that period
out to ten years
or more, and the recidivism rate rockets.
A quote from
the book:
The Western legal, or criminal justice, system’s
approach to justice has some important strengths. Yet there
is also a growing
acknowledgment of this system’s limits and
failures. Victims, offenders, and
community members often
feel that justice does not adequately meet their needs.
Justice professionals—judges, lawyers, prosecutors,
probation and parole
officers, prison staff—frequently
express a sense of frustration as well. Many
feel that the
process of justice deepens societal wounds and conflicts
rather
than contributing to healing or peace.
So what does this have
to do with the original topic? Legal
matters are not the exclusive domain of
lawyers and courts.
They are offenses against the community, and as such, the
community is owed restitution. The correctional system
should also be
accountable to the community. As with most
institutions, the organization tends
to believe in its own
self-sufficiency, and forgets who the "customer"
is.
Unless offenders are reintegrated into the community, they
will
continue to reoffend. So the judge would have been
perfectly within his rights
to change the charge, and it
would have served the community much better than
letting
someone off. The law is not sufficient unto itself.
None of this
applies to the corporate cases that we consider
here, because, as of now, no
corporation has ever been
thrown in jail. Indeed, most corporate crime goes
unreported, uncharged, untried and unpunished. The need to
reintegrate an
"offending" corporation into society is just
as critical as reintegrating a
petty thief.
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