Punishment and Crime

The title character of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado offers what seems to be an admirable theory of crime-and-punishment:

My object all sublime 

I shall achieve in time 

To let the punishment fit the crime – 

The punishment fit the crime.

Here are two examples of how his theory would work:

All prosy dull society sinners,
Who chatter and bleat and bore,

Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four.

The billiard sharp whom any one catches, 

His doom’s extremely hard – 

He’s made to dwell – 

In a dungeon cell 

On a spot that’s always barred. 

And there he plays extravagant matches 

In fitless finger-stalls 

On a cloth untrue, 

With a twisted cue 

And elliptical billiard balls!

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In all the talk and writing about Black Lives Matter and the rash of murders of Black American citizens by the police—choking and shooting the most prevalent methods of execution—one point has seemingly not been commented upon. That is, the offenses of the victims have been minor, or not even criminal offenses at all. The victims have allegedly violated criminal laws such as selling loose cigarettes or passing a counterfeit bill. Or have allegedly violated a motor vehicle law, such as driving with one’s bright beams on. Or have done nothing worse than sleeping in one’s own bed.

The point I wish to make here is that the police have exacted capital punishment on people who have not committed capital crimes. Whether you believe in capital punishment or not (we can discuss that another time), you must recognize that the state can exact capital punishment only after a legal trial. Being executed by a policeman on a city street doesn’t qualify as even a kangaroo court, much less a legal one. 

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What the Mikado proposes might be called a Law of Commensurability. His comical example of being condemned to play billiards with a twisted cue and elliptical billiard balls may be hellish to the offender. It is, however, less lethal than being summarily executed for a minor offense. And unlike what is happening in America, a punishment that fits the crime.