Compassionate Societies Do Not Focus on Retribution

Compassionate Societies Do Not Focus on Retribution  (Good Citizens of the World)

The theory of retributive justice that is intrinsic in all three Abrahamic religions, prohibits any of them from being at core, "religions of peace". On the other hand, their contribution is to reinforce a mindset likely to support a cycle of violence. Which, of course, is what we have seen historically, and what we see today, Just look at the geographic home of the Abrahamic religions, Israel and the mid-east.  By Brad Garrison.

Behind the Islamic and Christian religion is the idea of punishment when someone does something wrong (sin, an immoral act).  Most of our prison systems are an example of our punitive attitude toward someone that has done something illegal (not immoral necessarily).  With this punitive attitude we put first time offenders in with hardened criminals and then wonder why the punishment does not result in a reformed individual.  For most people, punishment does not cause them to change their attitudes, beliefs, or actions - it barely works on children.

A compassionate society realizes that we are all very similar and that we might have "fallen from grace" given the same upbringing and circumstances of the "sinner".  Being slower to judge and more likely to feel compassion for the "sinner", the compassionate society is more concerned with helping the "fallen person" to become better (rehabilitation).  Of course, I am using the words of religion, but the concepts are valid nonetheless.  

Compassionate societies also tend to be more egalitarian and treat all people equal since they recognize we all struggle and are inherently the same. Here are some issues where the retributive and compassionate viewpoint are contrasted.  

Issue	retributive bias	compassionate bias
Immigration	they broke the law they must go home. The law is absolute.	They, like we, have broke the law but they are people and their family will be harmed if we send them home.
Person committed felony or serious misdemeanor	they must be punished	perhaps we can help this person to become a better person despite the crime he committed, after all, he probably did not have a good start in life.
Women having children out of wedlock.	They had the kid they should take care of him/her and themselves	They need help with childcare to raise the child and we owe the child a good start in life.
People on food stamps	They are not working so they should not get free food.	Everyone deserves food no matter their mistakes and shortcomings, not to mention their children deserve food.  We should help them improve themselves.
single, poor parents	they had the children, they should take care of them.	We should realize how hard it is to rise from the ashes and help them with free childcare so they can improve themselves and their children have a chance of breaking the cycle.
students with large college loans	They got the degree they should pay for it. No sense crying after the fact.	The children are our future, they need our support.  Affordable college education is essential for our future, we should support those struggling to improve themselves.
people addicted to drugs	They were weak and screwed up, they deserve what happens to them.	They made a mistake, they need help.  With the young especially, their brain is particularly vulnerable to peer pressure and drugs and they will need a lot of support to get and stay clean.

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