Does punishment work?

[conuly]

For adults, that is - I'm not talking about kids in this post.

Andrea Yates, as we should all know, just got her conviction overturned for reasons of insanity. And in some of the posts I'm reading (but not all), there's scads of people lined up to call this a travesty - she killed her kids, and even though she was, as near as I can tell without being her, not at all in her right mind, and she needs to be punished. (Meanwhile, if those kids had been the ones with the problems, everybody would be talking about how put-upon she is and how she deserves our sympathy, but that's another rant for another day.)

In the paraphrased words of one commenter, she'd have to be crazy to kill anybody, and therefore it's a waste of money to not kill her now. I can think of some people I wouldn't mind seeing... Oh, nevermind, this is all tangential.

My real question is - what would punishing her accomplish? Who would benefit from this punishment? I've never yet seen proof that strict punishments lead to a decrease in crime - indeed, the evidence I've seen seems to show that reducing the problems that lead to crime in the first place is what reduces crime. And punishing her wouldn't bring her kids back. Would it make their family (her family) feel better to see her suffer? Would they rest easier in their graves? What is the benefit in punishing her for her crime?

I don't know. I really don't. So I'm asking everybody else - what is the point? If there are (other) effective ways to stop people from committing various crimes (or commit them again), is it better to do that or to punish the people in question? Why?

Comments

[pianodwarf.livejournal.com]

Well, two things occur to me...

1) If society at large sees that people get punished for committing act X, that serves as a disincentive for people to perform act X. A good example of this is Project Exile, first enacted in Richmond, Virginia. If a convicted felon is caught in possession of a firearm, he automatically receives a five-year sentence. The result? A dramatic drop in felons carrying guns. QED.

2) It's not just a question of punishment. It's also a question of protecting society at large. Regardless of whether Andrea Yates is mentally ill or not, the fact of the matter is, she did murder five people, and that means she's dangerous. Locking her up isn't just a question of punishing her. It's also to ensure that she doesn't kill anyone else.

[conuly]

1. That is good when it works. I've also seen studies that show that countries with strict penal systems often have higher rates of crime than countries with less punishment goin' on. Not sure what's going on there, really - I suspect it goes back to my view that reducing the things that cause crime works better...? It's not a subject I know all that much about, alas.

2. I agree - threats to society shouldn't be running around. But there were a lot of people saying not just that Andrea Yates should be kept away from society, but that she should be actively punished - killed in some brutal manner, forced to see pictures of her kids all the time, told how horrible she is, whatever. That's what I fail to see the purpose off, especially in her case, as she was not, I believe, fully capable then.

[pianodwarf.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree that society needs to work on eliminating the causes of crime. We all know quite well that (for example) crime goes up when the economy goes bad. A society that is healthy in other ways typically has little crime -- look at Switzerland, for example, which is a very safe and serene society.

As to the countries that have the strict penal systems... I don't think it's just that the penal systems are strict. Such countries are typically repressive in most other ways as well, if you'll notice. (A good example here is China.)

As to Yates being punished, I would think that would have to do with whether you believe she was in possession of her faculties or not. If you think she was sane, I can easily see why you'd think she should be punished. If you think she was insane and still think she should be punished, well, IMO, that's illogical at best and cruel at worst.