Wow! Powerful message, Ray. Thanks for writing it.
On National Public Radio, a few weeks ago, in context of the McVey
verdict, I heard a discussion of the American justice system. One of
the commentators, a minister, said that there were three reasons for
incarcerating a criminal: rehabilitation, retribution, and removal
from society. He said that most criminal justice theory favors
rehabilitation, but he said that in a democratic society, retribution
is really the only possibility.
Rehabilitation assumes that there is some normative behavior toward
which to rehabilitate. In a democratic society, all behaviors are
(should be) acceptable except those legally prohibited. For behaviors
that society, through its governmental system, has outlawed, there are
equally applied, clearly stated consequences (retribution).
Especially in a society that claims separation of church and state,
rehabilitation toward a religious norm seems particularly
inappropriate.