“The more we punish, the more persistent crimes become.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, April 30, 1925
Exactly this was said by Chief Justice Herb Yazzie of the Navajo Supreme Court: “You will never have enough jail space if your purpose is to punish” (quoted in Navajo Times Dec. 29, 2011, p. A-3). If only we could grasp the simple logic, which really applies to any form of violence, legally justified or not: to punish is to demean, to show lack of respect, to show lack of faith that the other can be reached by reason or, if not by reason, by “moving the heart,” as Gandhi put it. Restorative justice, which does the opposite of our present punitive system, is enormously more effective at reducing crime at a fraction of the cost, because those who are disrespected, commit crimes in the vain attempt to regain their lost respect. That is why at the Metta Center we have put forward a simple trajectory: establish restorative justice in schools (which is already happening, here and there), then in the criminal justice system, then in international relations—i.e. instead of war. And explain the logic wherever possible. No telling how long the arc would take to accomplish, but it’s a plausible strategy for world peace.
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Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.
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By: Prof. Michael Nagler
As the Founder and President of Metta Center, Michael Nagler is also Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Michael is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future and The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action. His latest book is The Third Harmony: Nonviolence & the New Story of Human Nature. Visit his website: michaelnagler.org.
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Regarding today’s reflection on restorative justice instead of punishment, I wonder about the view that all people, if respected, can be reached by reason or by moving the heart. I’m thinking of those with severe mental illness, like sociopaths or those with extreme cases of narcissism, people who are or seem incapable of feeling others’ needs or pain. Such people need to be respected but if they murder or torture or otherwise brutalize others, they also need to be separated from society because they are a real danger to others. I think a discussion of restorative justice needs to include such people who, for all practical purposes, are incapable of being reached by reason or by moving the heart. In short, the statement as it stands sounds to me oversimplified.
To my knowledge, no one in the RJ movement has ever said such people do not need to be sequestered, for their own and others’ protection.