LESSON 4 – CLEAN SLATE

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How Do Criminals Make Amends?

What is the ultimate aim of the criminal justice system? If society seeks restitution for crimes and rehabilitation for criminals, it needs a better plan. It must consider what rehabilitation looks like, for which offenders and offenses it is applicable, and how to ensure sentencing contributes to this end. This class examines the extensive, systematic program of repentance laid out in the Talmud and considers what insights this process holds for the above questions and present-day criminal rehabilitation. Finally, we look at sentencing programs that incorporate some of these elements in their pursuit of real rehabilitative justice.

In Crime and Consequence we explore 3000 years of Jewish wisdom concerning criminal convictions, sentencing, crime prevention, and rehabilitation. We challenge our thinking, pondering the application of Talmudic principles to real and complex, modern-day cases, and we get to the heart of questions such as:

  • Should we consider testimonies given in exchange for a reduced sentence as reliable evidence?
  • What is the goal of punishing criminals? Is it to gain retribution for the victim, keep criminals off the streets and safeguard from future crime, set an example and instill the fear of law, or to rehabilitate the criminal and reintroduce him to society?
  • Is life-without-parole a justifiable penalty? Is it within our right to sentence a man to death? When would these be warranted? Is there a better way?

In Crime and Consequence, we learn to discover and recover the humanity within criminals, we question practices that seem unethical and unfair, and we explore ways to prevent crime from ever taking place.

Crime and Consequence is for people who care deeply about humanity, are enraged at injustice, are fascinated by difficult-to-solve real-life scenarios, and are committed to seeing a system that is just and fair to all.