Saturday, September 24, 2005

Alternatives to Prison?

Gary North, a veteran of ministries to people in prison, suggests that prisons could be eliminated, although the article also contains a lot about about his experience in Kairos ministries that is pretty apolitical.

I can't say that I think that eliminating prisons is a good idea myself; definitely, property crimes where there was little or no physical harm or threat to actual persons could be punished by restitution, but for rapists and murderers, I want them kept away from society, and I am not comfortable with th idea of executing all of them.

Put another way, there are people whom I don't want in society, at least not for a while, but whom I don't want dead.

Of course, when analyzing Gary North's thoughts about crime and punishment, it is necessary to remember that he is a Christian Reconstructionist, whose beliefs on capital punishment may in some cases be a bit severe.

That is all.

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