Deterrance is Overrated

in the extremely thorough punishments
like beating down a psychotic today
is no improvement to our society tomorrow

as the very thorough punishment today

and the making of a better world tomorrow

are not even a little bit compatible

but the vengeance, oh the vengeance 

how sweet she tastes

oh so delicious

and righteous 

is that thought of retribution

far before forgiveness

it is intoxicating 

to the core

it is justice 

spread eagle

on the floor

like being very drunk and quite stoned 

it always and eventually. . .

inevitably 

       it always does,     it comes down

and turns into a cancer that festers

one masked as pure moral pleasure

         one eye for an eye

one tooth for a tooth

25 to life for sellin' some dope

in our model of retribution
all things lead to nothing

but another circle of destruction

another generation of broken lives

            and spitefulness 

Author's Note

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

When I first read your title and before I read the text, I thought nuclear missiles and I believe having them works when you are dealing with rogue states. But your poem is not about that. It is about I think retribution for criminal acts or maybe not even criminal acts.. And sometimes I think the punishments are totally out of kilt. For instance, I read about a woman in the USA who has recently been pardoned after serving 20 years in prison for a drugs offence. That to me was like taking a sledge hammer to crack a nut. You see and hear about cases like that all the time, but also in the reverse too. Justice needs to work, it needs to be fair and seen to be fair. Also my bug is concerning prisoners who have served their sentence and then try and build a life for themselves afterwards. How difficult that can be. Everything is weighted against them. They can't do this, they can't do that, finding employment can become a problem and then they end up by committing a further crime just to exist. Full circle. When they have served their sentence, they don't need another one when they are released. We live in a world short on forgiveness and tough on retribution. That's where your words took me David. And that doesn't just apply to criminals, it applies to everything.

Chris

[Spookers]

It's hard to watch and see people forced to rot in n a prison for such minor things. And even when you're not guilty, if you're accused, people still want to watch you burn. Our sense of justice is flawed. Justice is supposed to be blind and non-emotional, but it seems, as of late, everyone throws their emotions into it. Anger, hate, and fear all being thrown at anyone who does anything even slightly wrong. It's hard to live in this world where judgement and morals are so vast from person to person.

[Richard McLin]

and turns into a cancer that festers
one masked as pure moral pleasure
one eye for an eye
one tooth for a tooth
25 to life for sellin' some dope

Loved this line, something about it just hits me. Great writing, and another wonderful piece. Great job.
-Richard

[Davidgeo]

I wish our country wasn't so in love with the punishment part of criminal sentencing. For some crimes we're too light but for others, like drugs and prostitution, we take such an absurdly puritanical approach that it becomes counterproductive... the punishment sometimes causes more harm than the crime.

Thanks for reading. I write a lot and it's not always worth commenting on. I'm glad you felt this one was.

[LKBillips]

Really like this one. "but the vengeance, oh the vengeance
how sweet she tastes" sometimes blinding us from our own humanity. Selfish reasons and bitter hearts. And the system never equal in the weight and severity of it's punishments to crimes. Interesting read indeed.

[Davidgeo]

Thanks for takin' a look see. I'm glad it was interesting to you. I think victimless crimes like certain drug use and prostitution for example do nothing but create a black market where no one is protected. Keeping certain things illegal only restrict the supply but do nothing to curb the demand... this inherently makes things more costly in every sense of the word - to buy, to police, to treat abuses. It just stigmatizes and puts people at risk for arbitrary morality based reasons that are usually promoted by politicians to get elected and by police/prison union lobbyists to ensure job security.

[AYVID N]

I am not sure if the world would be a safer and better place with no deterrents in place. I feel at present, we dont have an alternative. We simply don't have such a vast, varied system of rehabilitation and like (what would we do with heinous murderers, child rapists, keep them, counsel them, cosset them?) Murderers would go on murdering with impunity, without fear and that's just human nature. So till violence is genetically engineered out of the human race, I wish, like the US, my country gave out more capital punishment and cut the terribly long judicial process needed to do it. There has to be closure for the victims or their families and the feeling that the system cares. In the end, that's the only positive thing that comes out of it.

A softer approach may work for minor offenders and lesser crimes though.

[Davidgeo]

I'm not talking about extreme capital crimes like murder or child molestation or even certain types of career criminals that have proven themselves over extended periods of time to have no regard for human life or for society in general. I'm talking about victimless crimes or crimes of desperation under extreme circumstances... things like drug offences, prostitution, gambling, certain types of petty theft, etc, etc,. I do support the death penalty but it's not for reasons of deterrence, it does nothing to deter the worst criminals. People committing extreme crimes just don't consider the death penalty before they carry out their acts and it actually costs the state more money to try death penalty type cases... as it should, executions must never be rushed as executing an innocent person (which has happened more than once) delegitimizes the entire thing. I support the death penalty because it does give the victims and their families a certain amount of closure and a sense that justice has been served.

The united states has a severe problem with locking up people for reasons that don't really have anything to do with making society a better place... politicians run on "tough on crime" platforms to get elected not because it works as a policing strategy, they run on that platform because creating an impression of fear and then offering a solution is a great way to get elected; and the prison guard and police officer unions donate massive amounts of money to those types of candidates not for the sake of justice but to keep the prison guards and police officers from being laid off even though crime in general has declined significantly since the 1980's. Expanding the police force and prison system despite lower crime rates is not about rational applications of justice, it's about money and political power.

In California there is this thing called "the three strikes" law which means after habitual offenders are convicted of a felony three times their sentence then becomes mandatory 25 years to life imprisonment... even for things like petty theft and drug possesion. There are thousands of people serving life sentences for stealing a few hundred dollars to pay for their drug habit. These aren't violent offenders, they need reasonable prison sentences, treatment and job training. They don't need to be locked away forever with violent criminals and pedophiles; that helps nobody and basically means that person's life is over.