When a citizen of the United States is charged with committing a crime, they are punished by local, state, or federal authorities, according to the penal codes of their respective jurisdiction. The most common types of punishments include imprisonment and the imposition of hefty fines. If we hear about someone having committed a serious crime, especially personal crimes against another member of society, many are quick to express their desire to have the criminal thrown in jail, and possibly have a large fine thrown upon them as well. This is justice at its core, correct?

There are, however, negative implications to our present system of justice that need to be considered. The important thing that is greatly lacking in our present justice system is what we will refer to as victim restitution. When a convicted criminal is issued a fine by the state, this money is not being paid to the victim for restitution. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website describes restitution fines as a means by which criminals “pay back the state for the crime they committed.” These types of fines are somewhat alarming as the state is seldom the victim. It seems that the state is profiting off crime here while victims are typically forgotten. Often, they are nothing more than witnesses to the crimes committed against them. Once the criminal is thrown in jail, there is no restitution for the victim.

One may point out that it is fair for the state to fine the criminal rather than the victim receiving the restitution because the state has to process the criminal, which obviously requires quite a bit of money and resources. Herein lies another fundamental issue with the present system of justice: the prison system. While imprisoning convicted criminals has its obvious benefits for society, keeping dangerous people off our streets, it also creates an even worse problem down the road. Prison inmates are surrounded by fellow criminals who can in turn learn from each other more effective means of committing crimes. This is why repeat offenders are so common among those released from the prison system. Jails don’t seem to be providing much effective rehabilitation; they are simply a breeding place for even more crime. Whether this is paid for by money collected from fines, or perhaps the victim’s tax dollars, we can see that there is no restitution here.

With many issues in our government and society, the solution is not always obvious. The same is true in this case with the problems of imprisonment and lack of victim restitution. The current system is doing more harm than good, and victims are not repaid. Criminals are usually “paying back the state” rather than whatever can be obtained from them going to the victim. Restitution would benefit society because rather than being sent to jail where they will learn to become a better criminal, the criminal will be forced to fully repay the victim for their losses. However, it is unclear how criminals would be kept out of trouble under a system where imprisonment is not the go-to system. Finding the perfect solution to issues in our society is never easy, but is always worthy of consideration.🔹