National crime and prison policies are failures, part 05

https://merangue.com/djznec0w There is not really much said about crime and punishment in the New Testament that can guide the Christian who wishes to set governmental policy for criminals. This is because the apostles and disciples were outside the governmental system, and only saw it defendants. In passing, this is why we have to be careful about how we cite the New Testament with respect to governing a country. By and large, the New Testament writers did not have to bear the responsibility of being in charge and governing. Many of their statements had more to do with rebuking authorities for misusing their authority than with setting policy. Perhaps the one exception is Romans 13:1-7 in which St. Paul gives a view of government that might make any Republican happy!

It is in the Old Testament that policies regarding transgressors are set. Unfortunately, due to the liberal / conservative debates, it is difficult to speak about Old Testament penal policies without the modern arguments creeping in. So, let me make a couple of quick comments. First, I am not a supporter of some of the Dominionists / Reconstructionist theories that would seek to impose Old Testament penal policies without considering the Talmud or Jesus’ words. Neither do I think much of those liberals who speak as though any quotation from the Old Testament means that one wishes to impose all Old Testament punishments upon the current world. Neither of those two sides is being totally honest to the centuries of debate over the continuities and discontinuities between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Having said that, I think that we can make a couple of statements about Old Testament penal policies that are helpful. First, the Talmud makes clear that, in application, mercy was a rather large concern for the Old Testament Jew. One can see that in Jesus’ trial. Note that witnesses are brought in, but there is insufficient proof to convict him. So, the high priest, Caiaphas, resorts to asking Jesus a direct question in order to establish his “blasphemy.” However, the rule that three witnesses must exactly confirm the blasphemy is nowhere found in the Old Testament but is a Talmudic construction. Second, the thrust of the Old Testament was to replace strict punishments with alternative ways to deal with transgression.

Liberals and Dominionists are too quick to cite the apparently strict punishments of the Old Testament. They are much less quick to cite those Old Testament passages in which restitution replaces retribution. Thus, there are several sins for which the person may pay a fine rather than suffer the death penalty. I suspect that no person chose death over a fine. The Law even makes it harder to execute someone by legislating that anyone who bears false witness about a capital crime shall himself / herself be subject to capital punishment. In other words, if the person is found innocent of a crime that merits the death penalty, and you were a witness against them, then you may be subject to the death penalty. This is likely to lead witnesses to be much more careful about accusations of murder. They might be more likely to accuse someone of the Old Testament equivalent of manslaughter. Thus, the thrust of the Old Testament is to push people towards restitution rather than retribution.

https://sugandhmalhotra.com/2024/08/07/udn5u1wvry I have not even talked about the manslaughter rules that allowed an Israelite to go to a city of refuge for a period of time rather than being subject to the death penalty. That is, the emphasis in the Old Testament and the Talmud is not on punishment, except for certain very select crimes, but on ways to avoid severe punishment–um, death?

I would argue that this ought to be our attitude. The current argument that everyone ought to be punished to the full extent of the Law does not square with either Old Testament, or Talmud, or New Testament practice and words. Part of the problem we are facing in the national prison system is the mistaken belief that Judeo-Christian ethics means that we must insist on a full retribution for each and every crime. Yet, when one actually researches the words of the Old Testament, the Talmud, Jesus, the Apostles, and even Early Church Fathers, one finds that there is a consistent attempt to find ways to NOT impose the full punishment expected in the various laws.

https://oevenezolano.org/2024/08/6akw1fbv So, oddly enough, what do I think the solution is to our national prison problems? Well, to actually deal with people as the Old Testament, the Talmud, Jesus, and the Early Church Fathers asked us to deal with them.