Osler's Razor

In preparing my testimony for Tuesday's hearing, I incorporated a short section on faith. It follows a much longer section about the context of sentencing at present, which I see as a period of moderating past excesses of retribution, not a time of wholesale change. Here is that portion:

The present trend towards incremental changes in which we back away from the most retributive parts of our criminal justice scheme is not only consistent across jurisdictions, but echoes the traditional religious value of seeking a balance between the virtues of justice and mercy.

In what has become one of the best-known scriptural passages in this nation, Micah 6:8 advises the people of Israel thus: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” To those in criminal law, the passage presents a challenge. If justice means to treat people equally and with a sense of punishment, and mercy means to offer an unearned chance for redemption, the two are in tension.
This tension reveals at least two truths: That we are to be humble in considering the question, and that our justice systems must incorporate some elements of both justice and mercy.

This requirement of balance between justice and mercy speaks directly to the bill at issue, which does stake out territory somewhere between purely retributive justice (life without parole) and mercy (release or a short sentence), and neatly incorporates aspects of both. The bill allows for retributive sentences, even of life in prison, but also offers the hope of redemption in the form of parole. Notably, this hope is different than the promise of a shorter sentence, and is tied to the behavior of the prisoner himself, as parole will more likely be granted to those who have turned away from violence and drugs.

The child sentenced to life with the possibility of parole is still likely to perceive the weight of a nearly overwhelming punishment. The position of such a convict is perhaps best described in Lamentations 3:27-29: “It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust—there may yet be hope.”

Life with the possibility of parole for a child will encompass precisely this balance between values Americans treasure.