more than just the punishment they deserve
At some point over the weekend I came across this article on The Conversation via scour.ing. The article is about the situation in the UK, but the principles apply equally to here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Traditionally we have seen criminal justice as punishment - criminals getting their just desserts. This has gone from the extreme Hammurabic-style eye-for-an-eye to a more moderate range of punishments from fines through community-based sentences to imprisonment. And alright, fine, people should be held accountable for their actions, and actions should have consequences, fair enough.
But.
Let's just assume for the sake of argument that all the inequities and injustices in real world society have magically disappeared. Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that the only people being convicted of crimes are people who actually did the crimes for which they were charged.
A person commits a crime, is arrested, charged, convicted, sentenced. Great. Then what?
If you haven't addressed the root cause of the criminal offending, then you have not solved the problem.
A person has served their sentence and is walking out the prison gate. What happens now?
Do they have ID and a bank account? If not, how do you expect them to function?
Do they have accommodation, or know how to access accommodation? If not, where do you expect them to sleep?
Have their mental health issues been addressed? Are they receiving treatment?
As above, but for neurodivergence - Have they been assessed for autism, ADHD, FASD, etc? If they're autistic, has anybody worked with them on ways to manage their sensory needs and develop skills for functioning in neurotypical society? If they're ADHD has anybody worked with them to ensure they are properly medicated? Rinse and repeat for every other possible permutation of neurodivergence.
Has their childhood trauma been addressed? Or their anxiety? These go hand in hand with the above two points about mental health and neurodivergence, but they can also, surprising as it may sound, stand alone. Still need to be addressed.
And how about conflict resolution, anger management, and other basic life skills "respectable" people seem to take for granted.
Has anybody worked with them to build up skills - be that literacy and numeracy, including IT skills, a trade, academic study, etc? They're going to need to be able to find work at some point.
...et cetera...
You can't throw somebody in prison, then release them after whatever period of time you've deemed appropriate for the crimes they've committed, then expect them to walk out of the prison gate at the end of their sentence magically transformed into a law-abiding citizen just because they got punished. Humans are funny like that - bashing them doesn't endear you to them and doesn't make them think, "Oh, I was wrong, I'm going to be good now". Punishment on its own is a complete waste of everybody's time (and the taxpayers' money). People need appropriate and effective treatment for what ails them, training and education to build them up, confidence in their own ability to build a life for themselves and their family, and a reason to believe that society will accept them when they are released.