When prisoners are released from prison, they often say that they have paid their debt to society. This is absurd, of course: crime is not a matter of double-entry bookkeeping. You cannot pay a debt by having caused even greater expense, nor can you pay in advance for a bank robbery by offering to serve a prison sentence before you commit it. Perhaps, metaphorically speaking, the slate is wiped clean once a prisoner is released from prison, but the debt is not paid off.
- Theodore Dalrymple
This quote reminds me of a great Sci-Fi short story called "Time in Advance" where society offered people the option to work on a penal colony (I think on Mars) with a high death rate in advance of the crime they were planning to commit. The thinking was by doing this, many of the pre-prisoners would either die or change their minds, and the overall crime rate reduced.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it makes more sense than saying someone has paid his debt to society by serving time in arrears.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteNow there's a good argument for space exploration!
Michael