Friday 13 May 2011

Creative justice?

Just came across this story:

"A US man who helped persuade an English man and a Canadian woman to commit suicide after finding them online has been given a jail term in Minnesota..." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13289119

So what is interesting about this...?

The detail that caught my eye was the later point:

"The judge ordered him to spend an initial 320 days in prison and then for the next 10 years return to jail on the anniversaries of his victims' deaths." [my highlight]

For a whole heap of reasons, I think there is something poignantly just about this part of the sentence: that for two days each year, the offender will have the 'inconvenience' of being made to go to gaol and think about the crime he has committed.

This got me thinking about what other crimes this might suit - dangerous driving comes to mind - certainly where someone was injured or even killed. What do you think?

But then I got to thinking about creativity in not just the criminal justice system but in the broader public services: what conditions need to be in place that would allow for such creativity and innovation?

So - what conditions do you think need to be either boosted or established - so that we can continue to have such creative thinking (and more) in the delivery of public services - including community justice?

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