Just Retribution
| Author | John T. Fennell |
| Published date | 01 March 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900105 |
| Date | 01 March 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
JUST RETRIBUTION:
The Alternative to Rehabilitation *
John T. Fennell
A Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff
We hope this international contribution may stimulate some
of you to write to us.
There is no doubt that currently fashion-
Can We Cure Criminals?
able
criminological
views
work
to
The champions of rehabilitation are
increase crime by reducing the cost to
usually appalled by the thought of pun-
the criminal.
ishing criminals. Ramsey Clark, the
Wall Street Journal
former US Attorney General, made a
Editorial, March 6, 1979
classic statement of this position in
Crime
Crime in America: &dquo;Rehabilitation must
pays. Punishment is meted out
in only six
be the goal of modem corrections. Every
per cent of all reported in-
other consideration
stances of crime. And what about all
should be subordin-
those unreported cases? All
ated to it.&dquo;1
I
too familiar
are the statistics documenting the crime
epidemic which began in the early
the primary purpose of the crim-
1960’s and continues into the
...
present.
inal justice system should once
Paralleling the growth of crime has
again be to punish rather than to
been a fundamental reorientation of the
rehabilitate the criminal.
justice system. The primary objective of
the system became the rehabilitation
rather than the punishment of mis-
Many social scientists would go one
creants. The preoccupation with rehab-
step further by asserting that the real
ilitation
&dquo;criminals&dquo; are those who would inflict
may well be a major obstacle in
the path of controlling the plague of
punishment on those poor unfortunates
crime. In addition, the consistent failure
who commit what society calls &dquo;crimes&dquo;.
For
to punish criminals leads to
example, psychiatrist Karl Mennin-
a
situation
in which the citizens, in Abraham Lin-
ger has written a book whose very title
coln’s words, &dquo;seeing their
is The Crime
property
of Punishment. Menninger
destroyed, their families insulted and
proclaims that &dquo;we commit the crime of
their lives endangered ... become tired
damning some of our fellow citizens with
the label ’criminal’
and disgusted with
... punishment does
a government that
offers them
not accompany any of the purposes by
no protection.&dquo;
There is
which it is justified... &dquo;2
a growing belief among peno-
logists and other behavioural scientists
Many law enforcement officers intuit-
that the primary purpose of the criminal
ively sense that the attempts to rehabili-
justice system should once again be to
tate criminals have been a dismal failure.
punish rather than to rehabilitate the
A growing body of concrete, empirical
criminal.
evidence supports this position. The ad-
vocates of rehabilitation usually point to
&dquo;Reprinted, with permission, from the
Sweden as having the model penal
Journal
sys-
of California L&dquo;aw Enforcement,
14: 5,
tem. However, the Swedish &dquo;model&dquo; has
pp 12-15.
15
proven to be a failure. The rate of
of recidivism.&dquo;6
recidivism in Sweden is more than 70
The conclusion is inexorable. We sim-
per cent (comparable to...
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