Just last May, Fr. Ernesto ran a series on penology in the USA. As part of that series he pointed out our tendency to never forgive or forget what a criminal has done. In fact, part of the problem of rehabilitation is our USA tendency to “speak with forked tongues.” Ask any good conservative Christian, and they will laud the forgiveness given the woman caught in adultery, to St. Peter who denied Christ, and to St. Paul who murdered Christians. But, the reality for the released criminal, even if they have become Christian inside, is to want somebody else to hire them.
But, more than that, we have a streak of retribution in our country that is so strong that our tendency is to never quite consider that someone has paid their price to society and to insist that one should be essentially punished for the rest of their life. I will give you one instance of which I am hearing today on the various news networks. Michael Vick was arrested for running a dog-fighting group. He served his time in jail and was released. Now he wants to return to the NFL, to do what he does best.
But, guess what! Yes, sure enough there are people who are saying that because he was a criminal he does not deserve to have a high-paying job again. In other words, he paid his price to society, but he really did not. Let’s keep on punishing him, regardless of what the law or Scripture or the Fathers say. One e-mail on the news even said that his job should be a McDonald’s type of job. So, I guess the argument is that a returning criminal should continue to be punished by being forced to take jobs that only teenagers and the most down and out would take? Hmm, and under what law, either criminal or moral do you find that statement?
Is Father Orthoduck angry? Yes, he is very angry. Unfortunately, there will be too many Orthodox Christians among that crowd, too many of us who will violate the words of Our Lord, of our Apostles, and of our Holy Fathers, and yet think that we are being moral and that we have nothing of which to repent in this situation.
Thank you, Father, for raising this issue for us. All too often, our actions are not consistent with what we say. Unless this is brought to our attention, we seldom make the connection.
I made the following post in a baseball forum in which I participate:
“While what he was involved with — and convicted of — is incredibly despicable, Michael Vick served his sentence, and is saying, at least, all the right things. The remarks of Commissioner Goodell — especially the one below — sets an appropriate course. I support the process the NFL has set in motion, and hope that Michael Vick has truly seen the error of his actions, and makes the most of this second chance.”
Quote:
“Your margin of error is extremely limited,” Goodell wrote to Vick. “I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support you and to dedicate yourself to rebuilding your life and your career. If you do this, the NFL will support you.”
I think too it is possible that the public recognizes intuitively that sitting in prison doesn’t really “pay back” anyone for the crime that was committed. As a result, people want more retribution after someone is released from prison. For example, if Mr Vick had was instead assigned to 2,500 hours of picking up trash along the highway, I think fewer people would feel that more is owed to society. Incidently, I think this idea fits nicely with the series that was run on this blog a while back about the origins of prison. That series I very much enjoyed.
That may be true, but we cannot engage in vigilante justice, that is, in deciding for ourselves what is fair and denying someone who has served time the right to work at what they are best able. Obviously, there are some caveats on that statement. Bank robbers should not be given bank jobs. Embezzling accountants shoult not be given accounting jobs. But, if the crime is unrelated to the job, then once a person has served time, they need to be able to work.
It is not the fault of the criminal if the law does not give the type of punishments that are appropriate. If people want to take it out on someone, then elect different representatives to their legislature.
If a person commits a crime, and serves time in prison for that crime, he should not be an outcast of our society for the rest of his life. On the contrary, the Christian response must be for our society to forgive this individual, and to treat him as if he did not commit a crime.
The fact that Jesus told those people who were throwing stones at a woman who had committed adultery, “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone” clearly indicates that all human beings are sinners; consequently, no human being has a right to demean a person for committing a sin or criminal act, because only Jesus is sinless.