Crime is like a circle which grows larger continually, unless it is contained or suppressed. You’ll notice that in countries ruled by a dictator, there is little crime, for the simple reason that idleness is not tolerated. Would-be criminals are put to work, their jails are occupied by political prisoners. You might say that our crime situation is a disadvantage of living in a democracy, which guarantees its citizens certain rights and freedoms. But it should not be. We elect leaders to make laws (and enforce them) for the peace, order and good governance of the state, and the primary duty of the state is national security and public safety. If 5% of our population are criminals, they should not be able to make the other 95% miserable. Something is wrong with our criminal justice system. Can it be our penal system?
The widening circle of crime touched my family again (before it was minor things, like the eight bicycles stolen from my grandchildren and the potted plant snatched from off my porch and the mugger who grabbed my wife’s necklace while on her way to church). And it was very painful. Not more painful than having taught yourself about refrigeration, then borrowing money to buy equipment to start a business, only to have them stolen before you had met your first client. My sister told me the story of the young man who had that experience. She was working at the UWI School of Continuing Studies, helped the young man with his study course and encouraged him to go into business for himself. Not as painful as the mother whose son went to the corner shop to buy something to eat and was shot to death by mistake. There is a lot of pain and anguish going around to the citizens of Belize, when that evil circle seeks them out. The people are helpless before this onslaught and successive governments seem powerless to stop this circle from widening until it touches us all.
Three weeks ago, my niece whom I dearly love found that the window on the driver’s side of her parked car was smashed and the car battery stolen. When your car is the only means you have to get about and you live near the southern end of Central American Blvd., and you have to wait — to get a new window and have it installed by a mechanic, it is a traumatic experience. To the battery thief, he had to have the $25 which the receiver will pay him for it. Smashing the car window (pure vandalism) is only incidental because that is his modus operandi. How many car batteries has he stolen and how many car windows has he smashed? He has probably been to jail a few times, returning always to his profession on his release. Crime costs the victim and the state much more than is realized.
My niece was staying at a friend’s house while her vehicle was being repaired. On her return home, she found that her house was burglarized, ransacked and most of her valuable possessions stolen.
Both incidents were reported to the police, who have been successful in recovering some of the items taken in the burglary. The culprits will eventually be tried and sentenced to jail terms, which is the only form of punishment that our penal system provides.
Two weeks ago, a near relative had his security system breached and a thief entered his private office and stole seven hundred dollars from a locked filing cabinet.
A week ago, my great grandson, who attends St. John’s College, was held up at knife point and his bicycle taken from him. It is a long walk for him to get to school, but he refused his grandfather’s offer to buy him a replacement, reasoning, no doubt, that the replacement would also be taken away and he was powerless to prevent it. A lot of young criminals are riding around on stolen bicycles and our law enforcement system seems incapable of putting a stop to it.
Last night, someone smashed, with a brick, the light meter installed on the outer wall of my old home on canalside. An act of pure vandalism; destruction for its own sake. He would not have done this in Singapore. That administration has a very high regard for the property of its citizens. An American boy in his late teens found this out to his misfortune. While on a vacation in Singapore with his parents, he thought it was great sport to spray foam from an aerosol can on a parked car. Just a childish prank, but the penalty for this act in that country is six strokes with a ½- inch thick bamboo cane on the part of the body designed for sitting. His parents would gladly have paid a fine of $10,000 and he would gladly have served three months in jail instead. But the wise lawmakers decided that they would not tolerate vandalism and they chose a penalty which would deter. Being prudent, they might have considered also, that the state would save the money they would have to spend on incarceration. It seems a harsh penalty for a childish prank, but I can understand the rationale of the lawmakers. They wanted to impose a penalty that deters. Do you suppose that there are many who smash car windows or light meters in Singapore?
We have gone from riding on a bicycle to traveling on a space shuttle to the moon; from doing simple calculations on an abacus to solving complex problems of time and space on a giant computer; from taking still photographs with a camera to international television; and, from the barber’s razor to high tech surgery on the heart and brain. There has been astounding progress in all the sciences during the last century. All but one. There has been no progress in the science of penology. We still think that a jail sentence of a lesser or greater duration is the proper and most effective punishment for the whole range of criminal activity.
I think that it is generally accepted that the main purpose of punishment for crime is correction and deterrence. Correction is supposed to lead to rehabilitation. So. The object of correction would also be to change bad attitudes and control bad behaviour, so that the criminal would come to realize that a life of crime threatens his own humanity, which leaves him no choice but to accept himself to an existence as a functioning member of civil society.
Whatever methods the science of penology has come up with to achieve the goal of correction (and I have to confess that I am not aware of them) have all failed, judging by the rate of recidivism.
Since the science of penology has failed in its attempts at correction (which is much the same as reform), perhaps it is time for us to consider punishments which have the effect of deterring certain offences. What is needed is penal reform. I would recommend the appointment of a Commission of Penal Reform which would place more emphasis on deterrence than correction. We could reduce the crime rate by 50% and save millions of dollars on the Police and Prison Departments as well as the judiciary. Government would gain the approval of a grateful nation, if this were done.
Government has a comprehensive plan for dealing with crime, but it will take a while for it to be fully developed. There are some things which can’t wait. We have to protect our women and children from sexual predators. In the forties and fifties, there was only one case of rape, because the penalty for this crime was so fearful. There should be a penalty for this crime which deters.
We owe it to our women and children to protect them. Corporal punishment should be the penalty for rape, not date rape, statutory rape or marital rape. Between a man and a woman, there is always the question of consent, spoken or implied.
There is no such problem when it comes to children. They can’t give consent. Only a monster would rape a child. He should be beaten with many stripes. This penalty should be imposed without delay.
Dear reader, if you agree that we should put a stop to child rape, please join me by writing letters to the editor or your representative in the House recommending this action. This is the way it is done in caring societies.