| In civil actions, one can be held liable without the full burden of guilt, that is, actual malice--- the intentional infliction of harm or deliberate choice of transgression. That is why it is necessary to be punitive, rather than simple make the victim whole. Now, I will not deny that there are alternatives to incarceration, and that sometimes they make sense, for example, fines or community service. The advantage of incarceration is that it segregates the malefactor from the community for a time, and imposes conditions of readmission. It also encourages reflection and expiation by making the malefactor live under discipline and take counseling. Finally, it provides a roughly equal unit of measurement, i.e. time, by which to adjust the severity of punishment according to the crime. Nevertheless, I will not deny that sometimes alternative sentencing is preferable. For example, rather than separate a mother from her children, if the crime were not too severe, or there were sufficient mitigation, I would be inclined to a fine and probation, so that one remained under partially supervision, though free to move about. |
