We aren't salvaging any of our human dignity when we are permissive and tolerant of evil people - when we extend compassion to remorseless killers, to cruel and evil men. As goes by a Jewish proverb: when one is kind to the cruel they are being cruel to the kind.
When we deny real justice though our leniency toward evil-doers we are dehumanizing and trivialising the lives of the victims who suffered under the hands of those evil doers.
Punitive and compensatory justice is a biblical principle, but should it be applied today?
Principles
As Christians we should be ready to forgive, as we ourselves have been forgiven - this itself is a release for us, irrespective of the state of mind of the person we are forgiving. But does forgiving mean that we absolve that person of guilt and let them off for their actions?
I'd assert that the right to absolve is only God's right. When a victim forgives their rapist, that doesn't mean, by virtue of having extended forgiveness, the victim then resigns their position on the court exacting a sentence against the rapist.
God forgave us and waved our sins, but our punishment was still applied to His Son. Forgiveness does not mean a person gets off scot-free, though it might mean we relinquish our cause to revenge, and submit retribution into God's hands and due process in the courts.
Judgements handed down on Earth can only ever be a poor reflection of what we truly deserve. Thankfully many of us will not have to face those greater consequences - which are steeper than we could ever imagine due to the desperate severity of sin, and our often cavalier attitude toward it. The gap between perfection and the smallest sin is a chasm, and the retribution for that sin is equally measurable - which Christ thankfully bore for us.
A doctrine
Paul said that if he had committed any crime worthy of death, he did not refuse to die. Judgements and punishment doled out by the courts are naturally somewhat based on forms of retributive and compensatory notions of justice. This restrains evil people, as they who might be callous and devoid of conscience, still retain some semblance of rationality and act in their self-interests, by considering and reflecting on the consequences before acting out their evil impulses.
Legal disincentives are a powerful restraining influence for the self-controlled – and the self-controlled sort of criminal may very well wreak more havoc than an impulsive street thug.
When wishy-washy and deflective concepts of morality and justice become the norm, they replace individual responsibility and accountability, with deterministic concepts. Concepts of freewill, blameworthiness and guilt disappear and subsequently the requirement of retributive justice, as a means to fairly compensate the guilty party, goes with them.
Justice
Without retributive justice we will no longer be punishing evil people, but instead merely isolating them. The difference in ideas here is important because the implications of fostering an entitled sense of impunity countervail the contrite spirit required for genuine repentance. We shouldn't reinforce a blame-others mentality.
A truly repentant person like Paul isn't afraid to accept the punishment for breaching the law because they know it is deserved, but most culprits choose to deflect the blame and decry the punishment – blaming other things like their condition, disease, society or upbringing instead. And sure in many cases these are mitigating factors in their guilt.
Retributive justice is important, and for those who will eventually be released back into the community, especially the remorseful, a balanced approach to rehabilitate them is just as scriptural as the principle of retribution.
The state and law enforcement do Gods work by administering the law, nonetheless I am touched by God's gracious acceptance of the repentant criminal on the cross next to Jesus. Those profound words he said stick out most: ''we deserve this punishment but He (Jesus) does not'', this is the spirit of repentance.
Amos Sale grew up in Auckland and recently moved to Wellington to assist his girlfriend with her youth ministry. Amos enjoys learning about history, politics, philosophy and biology and he likes sci-fi and action movies. Amos has a passion to defend the Christian worldview and value system against its enemies and detractors by any means he can, and to encourage others to seek out an experiential encounter with God.He is recently been engaged.
Amos Sale's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/amos-sale.html