Thursday, April 20, 2006

Whatever penalties the law offers in democratic societies, their fundamental aim is usually a balance between deterrent, rehabilitation and punishment.

While societies may demand that criminals are punished for their misdeeds in modern societies, studies reveal over and over again, that just punishing those sentenced by the courts achieves limited deterrent of criminal behaviour.

Justice is not just about catching wrongdoers and then locking them up. As a society we in the Cayman Islands like many others around the world need to ask ourselves, what do we want from our criminal justice system?

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, (RCIPS) has stepped up to the plate and with positive pro-active policing they are tackling crime head-on.

We hear too that soon we will have the services of a Prison Commissioner whose job it seems will be to focus on rehabilitation, certainly another step in the right direction. However, we cannot ever hope to introduce real rehabilitative programmes into the prison here if Northward remains overcrowded.

At present we are sending too many people to jail for too long without considering the consequences.

There are numerous other forms of punishment that can be administered to offenders that act as a deterrent, but also offer miscreants the opportunity to mend their ways – so to speak – with meaningful educational benefits.

Community service is an option that Caymanian courts do not seem to exploit as much as perhaps they could.

It is an ideal way of dealing with non-violent offenders in a positive way; it is cost-effective and has many points in its favour when compared to prison terms.

Not only does this type of sentence reduce the recidivism rate, it is also useful to society as a whole.

Offenders clearing yards in the homes of the elderly, under supervision, or helping out with numerous community projects from post Hurricane Ivan clean-up to general garbage collection, are far more useful than ones sitting in a cell at Northward.

Allowing those who have been convicted of less serious offences to remain with their families and keep their jobs, while at the same time compelling them to give back to their community, has a greater impact on offenders than fines or short prison sentences.

Prison should be a last resort and there only for those persistent offenders, or those who have committed violent acts and therefore need to be separated from society for the safety of the community.

Those convicted of drug misuse, petty theft or other non-violent offences do not always need to be incarcerated and the courts should use alternative sentences to prison.
Fines are of little significance for many or impossible to pay for others so do not necessarily offer an effective alternative to prison.

Punishment or sentencing in the community however, provided the system is well managed and supervised, has proven to be successful in many other jurisdictions as well as here when it is used.

Technology is also allowing further development in other jurisdictions of sentencing in the community. Electronic tagging allows authorities to maintain full surveillance of offenders, which means they can impose curfews and restrictions, while allowing the convicted criminals to maintain their responsibilities to their families, community and employers.

Addressing criminality is about far more than punishment and punishment must be about much more than loss of liberty.

Prison is becoming increasingly discredited in many circles as a method of either deterring or reducing crime and it does very little for either offenders or the community other than keep the two apart for a limited period.

Unless every offender is sentenced to jail for the rest of their lives, prisoners return to the community and long sentences rarely produce new and improved citizens.

Rehabilitating offenders and deterring people from committing crime should be far more of a focus throughout our entire criminal justice system.

It is time for some creative thinking and, although this subject has been addressed before, the time has come for the lawmakers to act, because we need a new approach that allows the system to not just punish criminals, but to actually help prevent or at least reduce crime.

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