TRIED AS AN ADULT (THE CRIME OF PUNISHMENT)

Victor Bloom MD

A couple of weeks ago a 13 year old Michigan boy was found guilty of second degree murder by a jury of adults. The prosecution was going for 1st degree, but failed to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was cold-blooded, with malice and pre-meditated. And so, like an adult, the boy goes to jail.

These recent facts bring up the question of trying a child as an adult, and whether punishment has any real value. Punishment is supposed to deter others from committing like crimes and to show the convict that he will be held responsible for wrongdoing. He must pay 'a price' to society. He is supposed to realize that what he did was wrong and that 'The People' would make him accountable.

Putting him behind bars like an animal, he is prevented, for the time being, from committing crimes again--- we would like to think, but it is well known that breaking the law continues in prisons and that imprisonment makes for hardened criminals. In many respects, punishment makes things worse for everybody. Yet we remain in this mindset, as the principle of crime-and-punishment is imbedded in our culture. The concept is biblical and pre-biblical. Jehovah was described as a wrathful God and Jesus as a forgiving, compassionate one.

An extraterrestrial who objectively observed human life on our planet might wonder that our primal story included the first man and woman in a wonderful garden of Eden, who disobeyed their Creator by eating an apple. For this 'sin' all their descendents would know work and pain and shame. Seems kind of harsh and extreme, but who and what are we to question the Creator?

The Son of God (which is also God, Himself) said, "He who is without sin should cast the first stone." In other words, humans cannot judge other humans. Only God can judge His creatures, and He may deign to wait until Judgment Day, sometime in the future. Some people think this momentous day is hard upon us, at the end of this millennium. We shall see.

One of our most famous psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, Doctor Karl Menninger, wrote a book in the latter part of his life, on the basis of his lifelong experience as an author, clinician and teacher. He questioned the value of punishment, entitling his book, "The Crime of Punishment." He gave example after example of punishment not doing much good. He did not live long enough to see the burgeoning of the American prison system and the dismantling of the state mental hospitals.

We used to make a fine distinction between being 'sick' and being 'bad'. Now we realize it is an almost impossible distinction to make in many cases. Take the 13 year old boy, convicted of murder. He got hold of a rifle and was trying to hit various targets, which boys will do. However, there was one 'target' which was another person's head, and that was that. Where was his judgment? The boy made a terrible mistake, one that he will have to live with the rest of his life, but would he be better off in a mental hospital or a prison? Once someone has been convicted, we tend to relegate that person to another category, one that is not human or potentially redeemable. This practice of punishment by the state can be called 'uncivilized,' because even a boy who has killed is still a human being. Chances are in jail he will become hardened and unredeemable.

For some reason, there is no option for longterm psychiatric evaluation and treatment. The tax money saved by dismantling the state mental hospital system has been shifted over to the penal system. The chronically mentally ill patients are largely on the streets and in jail. So much for community and family care. The United States has the highest percentage of its population in prison than any other country.

How did we let this happen? What can be done to re-establish a modern state hospital system based on state monies? Now that the economy is booming and the treasury has a surplus, it is time for legislators to seriously consider going back to the business of taking care of our severely mentally ill, which would include at least one 13 year old, who, for all we know, has been relegated to the scrap heap.

Dr Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and on the editorial board of the Wayne County Medical Society. He welcomes comments at his email address--- vbloom@comcast.net.