Making little rocks out of Big Rocks

Making Little Rocks out of Big Rocks

By John (circa 1980’s)

            Back in the earlier period in this country, when it was still a free country, especially in the West, when a person was convicted of a crime, the level of punishment was just that, punishment.  If the crime was severe enough such as stealing a horse or murdering the wrong person, the punishment usually involved a rope and the nearest tree, whether or not he got a jury trial.  If the crime was something less severe that involved incarceration, the convicted criminal was locked up, his property taken temporarily, and he was punished.  The punishment often involved making little rocks out of big rocks with a sledge hammer, or some other equally physically strenuous labor.  The food was not the best and was usually less than nutritious such as bread and water.  But, when the criminal served his time, was punished sufficiently, he was deemed to have paid his debt to society.  His horse, saddle and guns were returned to him and he was released back into free American to find his own way.  The person/former criminal was not branded for life and could, and most often did, become productive members of the society.  While there may be somewhat of a stigma initially upon return to his origin, with good work and deeds over a period of time, that stigma eroded into nothing.

            But, that was in a free country.  As the crime system began to evolve, people convicted of crime, even petty or nothing crimes, became branded with a “criminal record.”  And, if that level of criminal records was a felony, the person now loses his rights as a citizen and in some cases cannot vote, possess a weapon even for self defense, and other sometimes more severe stigma such as placing signs in your front yard that brands you as a sexual pervert, or require one to blow into a machine merely to start his car.  So, a person convicted of a crime is branded for life as a criminal.

            To make matters worse, the social “do gooders” got further involved and the idea of punish was changed to “rehabilitation,” a form of brain washing.  Once rehabilitated, the criminal, even thought branded as such for a lifetime, was supposed to see the error of his ways and return to be a productive member of society.  But rather than rehabilitate, the jails have turned into large training camps for further criminal conduct thereby exacerbating the whole process.

            As has been demonstrated throughout history, punishment works.