Michael Vick

“He paid his debt to society” is a detestable phrase. I cringe every time I hear it.

I’m not focusing on Michael Vick, a man who delighted in savage cruelty to imprisoned animals and now wants the slate wiped clean. All the beneficiaries of this fictional ledger keeping are criminals. Often they committed more than one crime, diligently trying to avoid discovery. There was nothing in their hearts to make them stop on their own. After being caught they lie. They are given a trial where lawyers can use the generous technicalities of the law to their clients favor and avoid punishment.

Trials and sentences are about punishment not redemption. Incarceration is not a bizarre installment plan to pay off a moral balance. That isn’t possible. The crime is not undone. The victims are not uninjured. The effects of crime on the innocent are everlasting.

People like to muse about what they would do differently if they had their lives to live over again. A futile exercise. We can’t cancel out what’s been done. There’s no going back other than through our conscience. Our past incorporates into our conscience to determine what we will do tomorrow. We are judged everyday by others and by ourselves. This is what keeps a lot of people from committing crimes in the first place.

The law-abiding who are successful as a result of hard work are constantly told they owe a debt to society. Their nebulous debt has no limit, no expiration date. Why should we be less demanding when it comes to criminals?

Posted via email from kleerstreem's posterous