Many people consider punishment to be unnecessary cruelty. Parents are told they will raise warped children if they spank them. Overincarceration is the reason given for seemingly every social woe that communities already riddled with crime experience.
Even when people acknowledge the need for imprisonment, it is with an eye to rehabilitation only. There are many studies out there claiming to prove that punishment for crimes does nothing to reduce recidivism.
However, when we focus on the response of the offender, are we often missing the bigger picture?
Simple Lesson
Contrary to much contemporary parenting advice, in the book of Proverbs we’re told that parents who don’t punish their children actually hate them (Proverbs 13:24). If this is true, than there must be benefit to what now is often referred to as “negative reinforcement”.
This book of wisdom gives us not only exhortation to punish, but also benefits for doing so.
When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;
Proverbs 21:11
when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
There are two benefits to rebuke revealed here. One is the benefit of punishing a scoffer, the other a wise man. A scoffer is not likely to correct his way simply because of punishment. If rehabilitation is the only goal, what is the point? After all, there’s always the risk of throwing pearls to the pigs right?
Answer not a fool according to his folly,
Proverbs 26:4
lest you be like him yourself.
However, the purpose of punishing the wickedness of the scoffer is not rehabilitation or simple retaliation but rather a demonstration of the error of their ways for others. Through their punishment “the simple become wise”. If a scoffer is left unchecked at all times, the simple observer may conclude that their ways work. Rebuke prevents this illusion of wisdom.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
Proverbs 26:5
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
If you want to know how punishing hardened criminals prevents crime, you need to look not at how the punishment affects the punished but how it affects the rest of the community. In a culture where a crime is punished severely, crime doesn’t pay. In one where looting is a daily occurrence, it certainly does (at least, until judgement does come)!
Punishing scoffers will likely harden many of them. However, it prevents the simple from getting tricked into following in their footsteps!
Instruction To The Wise
There is a group who responds well to punishment, however. These are the wise. Unlike the scoffer, who is committed to his folly, the wise man is eager to accept correction.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Proverbs 9:9
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
The scoffer will hard-headedly continue in his error. However, the wise man is one who reforms his ways when his sin is confronted. In a culture that is committed to punishing wickedness the scoffer may not repent. The wise man, however, recognizes the rightness of the punishment and is repentant.
Explaining the Studies
The above mentioned studies regarding recidivism may be explained in ways other than how they often are. Perhaps the “tough on crime” policies were not too tough, but rather were not the effective sort of punishment or were not public enough for the simple to be made wise.
Changing a prison sentence from 5 years to 7 likely isn’t going to send much of a message. First, because those who wish to avoid prison wish to avoid both 5 and 7 years, and second because it is a change that will not be noticeable for the average population. In fact, increasing the length of imprisonment increases the time when the punishment is “out of sight, out of mind” for most people. Further, long imprisonments separate offenders from many patterns of regular life which they will need if they are open to correction.
I’m not advocating for grizzly, public executions for shoplifters. However, those who wish to be “tough on crime” should likely consider that any punishments should be viewed as a statement of what will not be tolerated, to be understood by everyone in a community, and not simply its effect on the offender.
This is also true within parenting. It is more fair for your children that you clearly demonstrate your family’s values consistently with both rewards for good behavior and punishment for wrongdoing. One member’s behavior becomes a witness for everyone.
While these matters can be complicated, with different people having different ideas of what would be most effective, the creator of the universe doesn’t leave us clueless as to the goals we should have in mind when we consider these matters.
