Crime and punishment

Crime and punishment have always been a difficult juggling act. We used to be much more severe with criminals. You could get deported to Van Diemen’s Land for stealing a sheep. Teachers and parents routinely slapped their children around for one rule-break or another, and the police didn’t take seriously calls about an attack in a home – it was just another “domestic”. No wonder Gilbert and Sullivan had their choruses sing of “Letting the punishment fit the crime”.

So what do we make of the release of Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who was hailed for his sporting achievements and then found himself serving time in prison when found guilty of shooting dead his girl-friend at the time, Reeva Steevcamp?

During his trial , Pistorius stayed with his well-heeled uncle, and will probably return there to serve out the remaining part of his 13-year sentence.  He has served nearly nine years of his sentence.  He’s expected to return to his uncle’s salubrious home while on probation.

Has he been punished as severely as he should? The family of Reeva Steevcamp would probably say No. Their daughter remains in her grave; her killer walks back and into a comfortable life. So should Pistorius have been made serve all of his 13-year sentence? Would even that have been enough? He took the life of a young woman, yet he’s still alive and has the prospect of a life beyond prison walls.

The purpose of prison is two-fold: to punish for the crime committed, and to help the offender return to the outside world as a productive citizen.Will the Steevcamp family be reliving the pain of Reeva’s death, knowing that Pistorius is loose?

In the old days of capital punishment, it was an eye for an eye: you took a life, the state took yours. Wisely, this barbarism was abandoned. But does a lengthy prison sentence cripple or recreate the killer?  This was the question that many asked, with the release of prisoners post-Good Friday Agreement. But those were viewed as Troubles killings, and thus different. Just as no one arrests members of the Ukrainian army for killing Russians – the more the better – so we accept mass slaughter of innocent people. And of course we’d be appalled if capital punishment were put back on the books.

Isn’t it strange, that the taking of human life can land you in prison, but if you’re a soldier, you’re more likely to be rewarded with a medal. Humankind sometimes exhibits features of a brain-damaged mind.