Equity and Republican Justice

The incarceration of offenders (in prisons) with a view to their reformation was a social invention of the early Americans—the Quakers of Pennsylvania—some 200 years ago. The view that the goal of rehabilitation of offenders is either impossible or undesirable or both is now gaining ground rapidly. It has also become widely accepted, as the result of research and general experience, that the simplification of the problem of crime to the problem of the offender leads nowhere. The anchor points for moral values have been eroding, and reference to authority figures or symbols for guidance as to what is right and just is regarded as unsatisfactory. The concept of equity (which in volves comparisons between items) has come to be preferred over the concept of justice (which refers to a fixed ideal). Parole determinations, for example, may be "arbitrary" but they must not be "capricious." Justification of punishment for socially damaging behavior relies on the idea of com mensurateness ("deserts"). This raises to a new level of urgency the issue of doing justice in an unjust society—a difficulty which the prior philosophy of the treatment of offenders was able to avoid.