Page 19 - November Issue 10 24 14_Neat
P. 19
EIJ: Why do you think that is, what has
changed?
Det. Rago: To paraphrase Dr. Marvin
Wolfgang a renowned Sociologist who I
believe is also a ‘Philly Guy’’ because he
taught at Penn (by the way, no one from Philly
would say the University of Pennsylvania, its
Penn or U of P) said in order for punishment
to be an effective deterrent, it must be swift,
certain and severe! Think about that for a
moment, it’s a relatively simple premise and
yet the criminal justice system today acts in
a manner that is counterproductive to this Courtesy of King Paramore of Temple University Police
simple premise.
The punishment for committing the act must be timely. If you commit a crime
today, and you’re apprehended, when will you face trial? A year from now,
maybe longer; a lot of things can happen in the meantime. First off, I might
not get caught. Then maybe the victim will lose interest and not show up. Or
there could be some technical infraction and my case gets thrown out. Hey, I
might even beat the case. And if I don’t, maybe I’ll get probation. Either way,
a lot could happen between now and then; sometime next year or perhaps the
year after. Your young, you don’t think or plan much past next weekend, let
alone a year or two from now. Who knows what might happen between now
and then, things change, maybe your parent even forgets or has a change of
heart. How much would that deter you from doing something that you wanted
to do right now? The punishment must be certain.
Using the same analogy, your mom says that the punishment is “You’re
grounded for a week. No television, no Gameboy, Xbox etc. No friends over.
But this same situation has occurred before between your mom and your
siblings. When she said they were grounded for a week. It only lasted for one
or two days; they had friends over and played video games; and one time when
your younger brother got grounded, he just got a ‘stern’ lecture, and that was
it. So there’s a chance you might not even get punished for your actions.
19
changed?
Det. Rago: To paraphrase Dr. Marvin
Wolfgang a renowned Sociologist who I
believe is also a ‘Philly Guy’’ because he
taught at Penn (by the way, no one from Philly
would say the University of Pennsylvania, its
Penn or U of P) said in order for punishment
to be an effective deterrent, it must be swift,
certain and severe! Think about that for a
moment, it’s a relatively simple premise and
yet the criminal justice system today acts in
a manner that is counterproductive to this Courtesy of King Paramore of Temple University Police
simple premise.
The punishment for committing the act must be timely. If you commit a crime
today, and you’re apprehended, when will you face trial? A year from now,
maybe longer; a lot of things can happen in the meantime. First off, I might
not get caught. Then maybe the victim will lose interest and not show up. Or
there could be some technical infraction and my case gets thrown out. Hey, I
might even beat the case. And if I don’t, maybe I’ll get probation. Either way,
a lot could happen between now and then; sometime next year or perhaps the
year after. Your young, you don’t think or plan much past next weekend, let
alone a year or two from now. Who knows what might happen between now
and then, things change, maybe your parent even forgets or has a change of
heart. How much would that deter you from doing something that you wanted
to do right now? The punishment must be certain.
Using the same analogy, your mom says that the punishment is “You’re
grounded for a week. No television, no Gameboy, Xbox etc. No friends over.
But this same situation has occurred before between your mom and your
siblings. When she said they were grounded for a week. It only lasted for one
or two days; they had friends over and played video games; and one time when
your younger brother got grounded, he just got a ‘stern’ lecture, and that was
it. So there’s a chance you might not even get punished for your actions.
19
