The Light at the End of the Tunnel
What does it feel like to walk through a tunnel that has no light at the end of it?
On Thursday, I was back in prison for another visit, this time to meet with a client, “CC”, who is serving a sentence of life without parole for a murder he committed when he was sixteen. Today, CC is 29 and has spent most of his 13 years in prison locked in solitary confinement. More than anything else during our visit, I felt a sense of the overwhelming despair that inevitably consumes someone who has grown up inside the walls of a prison and has virtually no chance of ever getting out.
I myself walked out of our meeting frustrated, not only at the fact that there was little I could do to ease CC’s palpable anxiety. Our 3 hours of conversation certainly put him in a better mood than when he first walked in, if only because he had a chance to enjoy human interaction and a thought-provoking discussion. From a legal point of view however, CC knows that there is little recourse available to secure a reduction in his sentence or to get him before a parole board. (This was not a part of our conversation as I was only there to check in with CC, not to provide him legal counsel).
CC’s best shot at freedom right now is to hope for a Supreme Court decision concluding that a sentence of life without parole for crimes committed as a juvenile is unconstitutional. Several organizations have begun to advocate for this to happen, though it’s unlikely to come about anytime soon. In the meantime, I was left to ponder how an individual who has grown up in prison from a dangerous kid into an articulate, remorseful and educated adult can be left to stare ahead at the four walls around him without much hope of ever seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
The answer to me lies in the fact that our criminal justice system emphasizes uniformity and efficiency over individualized justice. Our justice system is not set up like a child welfare department, whereby case-workers monitor prisoners’ progress during incarceration to determine when they have assumed responsibility for their crimes, demonstrated remorse and matured to the point of being able to successfully re-enter society. Instead, our justice system attempts, though not always successfully, to ensure that similar crimes merit similar punishments, that criminal prosecution is executed pursuant to a protocol that protects the constitutional rights of the defendants, and that appellate courts are not bogged down by an endless series of appeals questioning the accuracy of the jury’s verdict.
This all sounds well and good, except when we consider that such a criminal justice system treats a 19-year old offender the same as a 40-year old offender, that taxpayers assume the cost of incarcerating individuals who no longer need to be locked up, and that prosecutors face incentives to maximize sentences instead of adopting a pragmatic approach that emphasizes ultimate re-entry into society. Moreover, especially when it comes to considering the death penalty, the criminal justice system tends to lose sight of the fact that human life is involved on both sides of the equation – on the victim’s side and on the perpetrator’s side. This point is made with startling clarity in the movie I saw last night, Dead Man Walking.
No doubt there are arguments in favor of our justice system as it exists today. Efficiency and uniformity keep the costs of prosecution and administration down and provide notice to potential criminals of the punishments they might face if they choose to act on their tendencies. Furthermore, our justice system mandates that when a crime is committed, all of society suffers harm and not just the immediate victim or the victim’s family. Meting out similar punishments for similar crimes is consistent with this philosophy.
Though I don’t expect our country’s justice system to be overhauled in the near future, I believe advocates of reform must figure out a way to focus their eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel – to lobby legislators and prosecutors and convince them that prisoners, especially young ones, who enjoy a ray of hope at being released might have incentives to clean up their act; to create better programs inside and outside of prison that encourage continuing education, regular communication with the outside world and positive reinforcement; and, above all, to emphasize that our criminal justice system must be more accountable to individual human beings, victims and criminal offenders alike.
On Thursday, I was back in prison for another visit, this time to meet with a client, “CC”, who is serving a sentence of life without parole for a murder he committed when he was sixteen. Today, CC is 29 and has spent most of his 13 years in prison locked in solitary confinement. More than anything else during our visit, I felt a sense of the overwhelming despair that inevitably consumes someone who has grown up inside the walls of a prison and has virtually no chance of ever getting out.
I myself walked out of our meeting frustrated, not only at the fact that there was little I could do to ease CC’s palpable anxiety. Our 3 hours of conversation certainly put him in a better mood than when he first walked in, if only because he had a chance to enjoy human interaction and a thought-provoking discussion. From a legal point of view however, CC knows that there is little recourse available to secure a reduction in his sentence or to get him before a parole board. (This was not a part of our conversation as I was only there to check in with CC, not to provide him legal counsel).
CC’s best shot at freedom right now is to hope for a Supreme Court decision concluding that a sentence of life without parole for crimes committed as a juvenile is unconstitutional. Several organizations have begun to advocate for this to happen, though it’s unlikely to come about anytime soon. In the meantime, I was left to ponder how an individual who has grown up in prison from a dangerous kid into an articulate, remorseful and educated adult can be left to stare ahead at the four walls around him without much hope of ever seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
The answer to me lies in the fact that our criminal justice system emphasizes uniformity and efficiency over individualized justice. Our justice system is not set up like a child welfare department, whereby case-workers monitor prisoners’ progress during incarceration to determine when they have assumed responsibility for their crimes, demonstrated remorse and matured to the point of being able to successfully re-enter society. Instead, our justice system attempts, though not always successfully, to ensure that similar crimes merit similar punishments, that criminal prosecution is executed pursuant to a protocol that protects the constitutional rights of the defendants, and that appellate courts are not bogged down by an endless series of appeals questioning the accuracy of the jury’s verdict.
This all sounds well and good, except when we consider that such a criminal justice system treats a 19-year old offender the same as a 40-year old offender, that taxpayers assume the cost of incarcerating individuals who no longer need to be locked up, and that prosecutors face incentives to maximize sentences instead of adopting a pragmatic approach that emphasizes ultimate re-entry into society. Moreover, especially when it comes to considering the death penalty, the criminal justice system tends to lose sight of the fact that human life is involved on both sides of the equation – on the victim’s side and on the perpetrator’s side. This point is made with startling clarity in the movie I saw last night, Dead Man Walking.
No doubt there are arguments in favor of our justice system as it exists today. Efficiency and uniformity keep the costs of prosecution and administration down and provide notice to potential criminals of the punishments they might face if they choose to act on their tendencies. Furthermore, our justice system mandates that when a crime is committed, all of society suffers harm and not just the immediate victim or the victim’s family. Meting out similar punishments for similar crimes is consistent with this philosophy.
Though I don’t expect our country’s justice system to be overhauled in the near future, I believe advocates of reform must figure out a way to focus their eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel – to lobby legislators and prosecutors and convince them that prisoners, especially young ones, who enjoy a ray of hope at being released might have incentives to clean up their act; to create better programs inside and outside of prison that encourage continuing education, regular communication with the outside world and positive reinforcement; and, above all, to emphasize that our criminal justice system must be more accountable to individual human beings, victims and criminal offenders alike.
posted by Ariel Glasner @ 12:47 PM
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