- Jul 23, 2018
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Short letter to the editor
vermontdailychronicle.com
Under Biblical law, the tax-funded prison system would be eliminated and swift justice reinstated, and measures against perjury and false accusations more firmly established.
Crimes would focus on the guilty party compensating the victim and preventing future offenses rather than on state punishment. Classifying crimes as “against the state” shifts the focus from victim compensation to criminal punishment. Biblical law has things the other way round. For example, our approach to robbery is flawed in several ways:
Victims of assault and robbery see their attacker imprisoned, yes, yet they also indirectly fund the criminal’s prosecution and housing through taxes. In Vermont, taxpayers pay over $50,000 annually to house a prisoner. Victims receive no compensation; instead, they bear the financial burden, while the criminal is supported by taxpayers who had no part in the crime.
Think of another scenario from the viewpoint of a survivor of a serial rapist and murderer. Years after the attack, the victim still suffered mental and physical trauma while her assaulter was “eating three meals a day, had a television, and didn’t have to work or worry about rent. He had gotten married in prison and was having people write to him…he was costing the state $26,500 per year just in food and housing…I was a victim, yet no one was paying my rent or making sure I got three meals a day…he was sitting on death row with his every need being cared for.”
In the Bible, justice was based on compensation to the victim by the guilty party and on discouraging future crimes. With an eye to prevention, the Bible imposed an uneven punishment for theft; you had to give back more than you took. Exodus 22:1 reads, “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.” Proverbs 6:31 says, “Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.”
This system ensures that neither victims nor innocent bystanders are taxed to fund it. Instead, victims receive overcompensation for their losses, while heavy penalties discourage future theft. There is nothing immoral about this approach. The immorality, it might be argued, lies in what we are doing at present.
Letters: Smith on Biblical Justice, Lanese on elected officials ignoring constituents - Vermont Daily Chronicle
Under Biblical law, the tax-funded prison system would be eliminated and swift justice reinstated//Who does Congress represent, what do they stand for? Their silence speaks volumes.
vermontdailychronicle.com
Under Biblical law, the tax-funded prison system would be eliminated and swift justice reinstated, and measures against perjury and false accusations more firmly established.
Crimes would focus on the guilty party compensating the victim and preventing future offenses rather than on state punishment. Classifying crimes as “against the state” shifts the focus from victim compensation to criminal punishment. Biblical law has things the other way round. For example, our approach to robbery is flawed in several ways:
Victims of assault and robbery see their attacker imprisoned, yes, yet they also indirectly fund the criminal’s prosecution and housing through taxes. In Vermont, taxpayers pay over $50,000 annually to house a prisoner. Victims receive no compensation; instead, they bear the financial burden, while the criminal is supported by taxpayers who had no part in the crime.
Think of another scenario from the viewpoint of a survivor of a serial rapist and murderer. Years after the attack, the victim still suffered mental and physical trauma while her assaulter was “eating three meals a day, had a television, and didn’t have to work or worry about rent. He had gotten married in prison and was having people write to him…he was costing the state $26,500 per year just in food and housing…I was a victim, yet no one was paying my rent or making sure I got three meals a day…he was sitting on death row with his every need being cared for.”
In the Bible, justice was based on compensation to the victim by the guilty party and on discouraging future crimes. With an eye to prevention, the Bible imposed an uneven punishment for theft; you had to give back more than you took. Exodus 22:1 reads, “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.” Proverbs 6:31 says, “Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.”
This system ensures that neither victims nor innocent bystanders are taxed to fund it. Instead, victims receive overcompensation for their losses, while heavy penalties discourage future theft. There is nothing immoral about this approach. The immorality, it might be argued, lies in what we are doing at present.
