A Criminologist's Diary-42

A Criminologist’s Diary-42

Account Criminology and Criminal Ju...

Special Punishment Policies for the Aged and the Infirm

A shoe maker in Boston, USA is eulogized for the probation services. Through his committed and devoted dedication and zeal, several hundreds of offenders were released on probation of good conduct. Researches and studies in the special area of treating offenders show that probation is the best method so far designed and devised for treating offenders. Its success rate is very high. For those who stay in a prison, the approach is to release them prematurely before the completion of their sentence, if found fine, and it is called’ Parole’. There are a number of NGOs and others involved in after care services.

The imprisonment has proved to be not a success in the development of the personality of the convicts in an upright way in the right direction. As Winston Churchill said:” The mood and temper of the public with regard to the treatment of crime and criminals has always been an unfailing test of any civilization in any country” In the west, now social services, attending special training courses for the juveniles etc., are awarded as punishments. Just recently, an ex-minister of a State Government in India was punished for incarceration for one year. The question here is:” Why not the former Minister of a State, a 76 years old sick person, be given probation of good conduct for one year instead of one year’s imprisonment?” The fact that he has been punished means that he has been punished for the offence he committed and sending him to incarceration shows that the law became more retributive and cruel taking a sort of vengeance. Either the law is bad or the judge who punished him had a punitive approach.

Now, forget about the ex-minister who was punished for an offence he is alleged to have committed about two decades ago. Another case is about a retired Inspector General of Police, 76 years old sick man, who was punished for life for an offence, alleged to have been committed by him about 40 years ago. I am not at all concerned with the ex-minister or the retired police official. Mine is about the aged and the infirm as far as their imprisonment is concerned just before their death (?). We have special laws, concern and consideration for the juveniles, for women, for the mentally sick and so on and everything is done for the best interest of the convicted. We have thus the juvenile justice, gender justice, victim justice and there exist victimological compensation, restitution etc. We have human rights laws and special courts for human rights cases to be tried. The question is: ‘Why not we have special laws, procedures and punishment policies for the aged and the infirm?’

Crime is a human act and very much a social fact. Punishment for punishment’s sake is no punishment at all. Purposeless punishments especially incarceration are counterproductive. The purpose of imprisonment is not retribution or vengeance taking. The old and the infirm do not require any special treatments in the prison and they cannot be given hard work. Why should the general public be taxed to find money for maintaining the old and for treating them medically at the Government expense? It becomes a waste of money from Government Exchequer and should be discouraged. Even today, an inmate in a prison needs more than one lakh Indian rupees for his accommodation and other needs in some States and if that is the general case, it will be more for the old and the infirm. Considering the nature of the problem and the issue under discussion, should we not think seriously about the punishment policies to the old, very aged and infirm convicts in prisons?