Originally Posted by
Yurt
So we end up with:
Post 11
Can to back up your belief with Judicial law? Can you back it up with the constitution? If it is a political afterthought, from what branch are getting this thought from?
Don't forget, the executive branch makes plea bargains all the live long day...
And Congress can get checked by the Judicial branch.
From where do you draw your authority?
If it's a literalist game you want to play ....
Are not convicts convicted as a means of punishment for committing crimes? If they have not violated judicial law, proposed by the legislature and signed by the President/Governor, then there is no reason for a trial and/or conviction, is there?
The penal system was created to house/detain those aforementioned convicts being punished for violating the aforementioned legislation signed by the President.
Then there is this:
pe·nal /ˈpinl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[peen-l] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or involving punishment, as for crimes or offenses.
2. prescribing punishment: penal laws.
3. constituting punishment: He survived the years of penal hardship.
4. used as a place of confinement and punishment: a penal colony.
5. subject to or incurring punishment: a penal offense.
6. payable or forfeitable as a penalty: a penal sum.
The housing/detention facilities within the US ARE loosely labelled the US Penal System, are they not? Nowhere in that definition of "penal" do I see "rehabilitation" as part of.
The penal system was devised as a means of punishment, and fear of that punishment thought to be sufficient "rehabilitation." Prisoners were used as forced labor by states up to and probably including the 70s.
So rehabilitation IS an afterthought to the penal system -- something dreamed up by the touchy-feely crowd who always seem to apologize for the bad guys.
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke