We’ve talked about various prison reforms on Queerty including the decriminalization of sodomy, correct gender placement for transgender inmates, and using condoms to reduce the spread of HIV. Well consider this:
Instead of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on imprisoning violent offenders and then subjecting them to the cruel and unusual punishment of rape and gang violence in prisons, wouldn’t we do better to just whip or cane violent offenders and send them on their way? That’s what Peter Moskos criminologist and author of In Defense of Flogging argues… and he makes a pretty persuasive case.
Prisons are overcrowded, have a high recidivism rate (that is a high number of inmates who return after their release), and cost lots and lots of money. So a couple of lashes or canes to the backside sounds like a potentially cost-effective measure. Plus, it hurts like hell:
Moskos argues that convicts should be offered the option to receive a caning at the rate of two lashes for every year of their sentence, in lieu of incarceration. He envisions a highly efficient system in which the convict, upon choosing the caning at his sentencing, would be ushered into a semi-private chamber, examined by a doctor, and then administered the punishment by a trained professional. Afterward he’d be released.
While advocating for the punishment, Moskos doesn’t spare us the brutal details. In the aftermath of caning, he writes:
You’ll likely be in shock and perhaps even unconscious as the doctor treats the deep, bloody furrows left in your behind. Then, once they’ve patched you up, you’d be allowed to leave the courthouse a free man…You’d never have to find out what the inside of a prison is like.
This is an important piece of Moskos’ argument. The idea that caning hurts—a lot—but is quick and simple means it has the potential to bridge the divide between liberal prison reformists and hard-on-crime conservatives. Ultimately Moskos is on the same page as advocates for prison reform who point out the inefficiencies, racism, and lack of justice inherent in our current system.
There are serious downsides of course. For one, prison is partially meant to be rehabilitative by teaching inmates job skills to use in the real world—corporeal punishment wouldn’t teach anyone anything other than not to mess with the business end of a lash. Secondly, the quick release of violent and rape offenders doesn’t provide much comfort or safety to their victims. And some argue that physical punishments will only encourage guards to use physical violence to control non-violent offenders and those who do opt for prison time.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But imagine all the good the saved money could do in our communities especially if it went towards helping rehabilitate inmates with actual vocational skills.
What do you think? Brilliance or brutality?
Hyhybt
Perhaps, just perhaps, for certain types of crime.
dvlaries
[ administered the punishment by a trained professional. ]
Hmmm. Just exactly what schools specialize in turning out these particular ‘trained professionals…?’ Who or what determines they’re ready to graduate and set out to look for hiring, and who or what do they practice on before it’s determined they’ve got it right…?
😮
Mark
“corporeal punishment” should probably be CORPORAL punishment.
Adman
Yeah, that’s what the USA needs. We need the system to start teaching the populace that flogging someone is the way to settle any issues you may have with them. It’s weird when Queerty writes these articles that basically amount to troll posts on their own site. Who do you guys sell the feedback that you gather to, anyway? Can any BDSM worker buy the demographics and market data you generate here? Freakin’ crazy/stupid/juvenile article.
Joe
Really, no, just no. I get it, I really do, part of me wants to support this idea. Its one of those ideas that tries to convince us the world is really a simple place and good old common sense always works out. My grandmamma caned me and I learned how to be good real quick. Sure it can work for some, but there is a deep and important significance between private practice and public standard. We should hold our politicians to a higher standard and our system of judgment as well. Corporal punishment is not completely inane or useless, there is the burned-hand/fire analogy and this is true. But there is too much truth to the cycle of abuse for us to possibly trust this system. Why do you think so many of the worst homophobes, that propose some of the most anti-gay legislation are closeted gays. Its because the abuse society lays onto gays, that that person’s culture, family, faith, friends, community, all contained some form of hatred, dislike, fear against homosexuals. The person most abused by such negativity is the closeted homosexual child who may grow up to hate himself so much that the hate begins to pour outward onto others, the people that reflect what he hates so much.
So before we start abusing others as a form of resolution, perhaps we should tally up how much good abuse has ever done for humanity.
Hyhybt
I’ve not read anything on this subject (that I can remember, anyway) other than this Queerty page… but in some ways this could be considered *more* humane. It’s over and done with, and you can get back on with your life. Whereas, if you lock someone up for years, when they get out they likely don’t even have a home anymore other than the prison, much less a job. Also, people get acclimated to the environments they’re in; hardly a good thing if the person is to be released eventually.
It definitely, though, shouldn’t be an option for those who are a danger to others.
Roy
Firstly, it is illegal in the US, and would require a constitutional amendment. We’d probably see a north – south split, which could divide the country even more. I don’t think it’s a good idea at all. Taking a violent crime, and punishing it with more violence, seems counterproductive. Our whole criminal justice system has been so screwed up by politicians. We really need to change with the times, and do something about guns and gun violence. We have to stop wasting tax payer money locking up non-violent offenders with caught with some sort of dope, and locking them up for years. We need to put that money into treatment, and stop building jails. We need to treat inmates like human beings, and educate and rehabilitate. And we should be taking the billions spent on the war on drugs, and use it to develop comprehensive mental health and addiction treatment centers, so that every community has access to care. And we have to figure out a way to remove the stigma associated with mental health related illnesses so that people would seek treatment rather than other turning to other means to medicate themselves. Thank you!
B
“What do you think? Brilliance or brutality?” I suspect it might have been meant as “A Modest Proposal” in the same sense as Jonathan Swift’s satirical proposal for preventing the children of impoverished people in Ireland from being a burden to their families – by having the parents eat their own children! Whether it qualifies as brilliant is a literary judgment, something best left to the critics who will no doubt use Jonathan Swift as the standard.
As to one reader’s question, “Just exactly what schools specialize in turning out these particular ‘trained professionals'”, I believe you can find some in Singapore. One
American teenager found out that, if you vandalize their buildings, they vandalize your butt, although they reduced the number of lashes after the U.S. protested. Turns out the kid didn’t even get his 15 minutes of fame on U.S. television – something else happened that was more newsworthy just as he was about to be interviewed – after his recovery (to the point of being able to sit down long enough for an airplane flight) and his trip home.
Axel
@Mark: No, it shouldn’t.
Syl
No. It’s unconstitutional, inhumane, and barbaric. Our prison problem stems largely from the War on Drugs and the criminalization vast swaths of the populace (and, to a much lesser extent, our immigration problem, but that’s another issue), not from a shortage of prisons or a lack of the lash. Prison criminalizes people further-what else do expect to happen from removing a person from their community and placing them in a cage with murderers, thieves, and rapists just for smoking a joint or having some pills? Better to keep the 1/3 of all drug arrests out of jail, and to get them help if they need it, and end mandatory sentencing for everything except violent offenses, rather than make them unemployable felons who resent rather than respect our legal institutions and have to start a career of crime to provide for themselves. Ditto for prostitution.
Marc
Perhaps, as pertaining to certain non violent crimes, and with the agreement of the guilty party, this could be an option.
TampaZeke
I noticed that in your world, all criminals must be male.
Tony
This is moraly repugnat and is unbefitting serious consideration. We have a constitution that outlaws Cruel and unusal punishment. Thw author of this editorial as well as the afformentioned book should be publicaly shuned by the Academic community. Have you forgotten that GLBTQI people are being caned and flogged all over World for being who they are Only an Animal could suggest this only an animal could have written this artical, Shame Queerty Shame.
Tony
YOu are disgusting
hf2hvit
Sure…let’s start with heterosexual adulterers…
Jeffree
If it is now, or could be made constitutional, maybe they could offer the guilty party between X number of months and Y number of flog-swats. The US prison system, with such a high % of people in jail, is a very frequent source of criticism by other countries. Same goes for the death penalty. That’s not the reason we need to change though — it’s more a question of whether prison works to reduce crime, rehabilitate & (fairly) punish.
It will sound like Shariah law to many of our fundie citizens, and that’s a strike against the idea….
@B. It *does* sound like Swift & Singapore. I remember the outcry here in the US when that guy got nabbed. Thoughts on the constitutionality here?
Shannon1981
IS this for real? It is like suggesting that rape is an acceptable form of punishment. Just NO, Queerty. NO.
damon459
What are the bloggers on this site smokin? First off we have a constitution as others have said which protects against cruel and unusual punishment, secondly anyone who has taken a basic psychology course could tell you negative reinforcement never works, Thirdly do we really want to revert to acting like animals swinging from the trees? If you want to have less people in prison start by getting rid of the for profit prison system and stop locking up non-violent offenders like drug users who btw serve more time on average then murderers.
J. R. Braden
Oh hell no! Listen carefully, Thomas Jefferson has stopped rolling around in his grave (he started about three months into Nixon’s term and has been rapidly spinning ever since) and he’s started screaming, “NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NEVER NO!” at the lid of his coffin.
Paula
Beyond all of the arguments over brutality and constitutionality, there’s also the issue that there’s a whole community of people who enjoy things like caning for whom this would not be much of a punishment. Also, I worry that making caning a punishment equivalent to jail time will make the whole S&M community seem even more unrelatable to everyone else. “You people get pleasure from something that people agree is as bad as jail time? You sick bastards…” and all that jazz.