Buddhism and punishment.

hermitwin

At my age, there is not much hair left.
So, splitting them works for me.

compassionate_warrior

As punishment, he should work on menial jobs.
And be required to face all the people who lost money.
A reality program?

Wouldn't that be a great justice system, that tailored sentences to fit the crime like that? How can we get one of those?

zidangus

As punishment, he should work on menial jobs.
And be required to face all the people who lost money.
A reality program?

If Bernie Madoff doesn't belong in prison, where does he belong?

Im not convinced, I mean would this really deter someone from committing these type of crimes ? As a punishment you have to work in a job that a large portion of the population have to work at anyway to survive. If anything I think this type of punishment would encourage more people to indulge in white collar crime since for that type of punishment the risk of being caught I would say is worth it. So I think prison sentences should be applied in these cases, but I also think crimes of violence should have tougher sentences than white collar crimes. And I would make them face the people who lost their life savings etc etc before they served their custodial sentence to ensure that they realise what the consequences of their actions were to real people and therefore the sentence can give them time to reflect on their actions.

Dakini

If it was solitary confinement, this would not be a problem, also there could be books made available, or even distant learning courses, which prisoners can learn skills that can help them on the outside. Most importantly I think criminals should be made to realise what devastating effects their actions can have on a person, family or community.

Books, distance learning courses already happen in prisons. Inmates earn privileges via good behavior. Prisons have libraries for inmate use.

zidangus

If it was solitary confinement, this would not be a problem, also there could be books made available, or even distant learning courses, which prisoners can learn skills that can help them on the outside. Most importantly I think criminals should be made to realise what devastating effects their actions can have on a person, family or community.

Books, distance learning courses already happen in prisons. Inmates earn privileges via good behavior. Prisons have libraries for inmate use.

I know, but in solitary confinement these could be a means to stop people going crazy with boredom. Something to stimulate the mind, and give some sort of self esteem to the inmate.

Malachy12

Too broad of a question on a complex subject. If there was a solution to crime, easy enough to fit on a thread... as a society don't you think we would already found it? There are too many factors that contribute to crime. There is no one size fits all solution. Rehabilitation is awesome in some contexts, yet equally important is prevention.
(on a personal note: I don't think society perspective of crime/punishment is the biggest factor shaping the justice system, I think it's cost/money of programs.)

federica

I see little in this thread that accords with "Buddhist principles"

Moved to GB.

Dakini

Do we even know what the Buddha's position was on punishment? Any suttric references?

zidangus

There is a book/article on this issue,by Leanne Fiftal Alarid, Hsiao-Ming Wang, which I found quite interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/buddhistethics/capitalpunishment.shtml

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3427/is_1_28/ai_n28867545/