Link(s) of the day: Double edged swords cut interesting paths

Thanks Joe for finding this picture. It made me think of Iranian president Ahmadinejad.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20942057/page/2/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6948920,00.html

Some days you wonder where the world is headed...

Link of the day: When do you finish doing your time...

This might come across as uncaring, but it isn't. It is a case of extending a principle uniformly. I don't support in any way the heinous acts some of these people have performed.

I've always been leery of the sex offender registration that our country does, and especially as the information is available to anyone. Now there are 150 pages of research that say all of it much better than I can:

While the article says it well I can't deny myself a good monologue... (random thought: is everything on the internet technically a monologue or perhaps a soliloquy?)

I'm opposed to continuing punishment after someone has completed their sentence and how the sex offender list is handled feels like additional punishment. I would even consider it cruel and unusual punishment as we don't force and publish the same registration for drug offenses or other crimes. Do a quick google search for map of drug offenders and sex offenders. The first two hits for sex offenders are maps. I didn't find one for drug offenders at all.

Thinking of punishment reminded me of a C.S. Lewis essay from years ago regarding the justice and legal system and its goals.

In quick summary and in no way doing justice to C.S. Lewis' writing. If the purpose of the legal system becomes rehabilitating the criminal and preventing additional criminals then the punishment being defined relative to the crime becomes irrelevant.

I find this essay especially poignant as we discover more genes that control all our behaviors. Do we in fact have the choice to commit a crime or is it in our genetic make up to be criminals? I don't believe our choices in life are dictated by our genetic make-up or our past history. I've seen first hand the changes people can make in their lives. Overcoming horrible pasts, genetics and half a life-time of choices that perpetuated their bad start.

I believe we're responsible for our actions and can't slough off blame on an unhappy childhood or bad genes. Punishment should fit the crime and curing the criminal doesn't fit in that context at all. It takes the criminal out of the equation. If I were to find myself crossing the line, I'd want to know exactly what I need to do to make restitution and move on.