Is there not something ridiculous about the penal system? Surely as a way of arriving at judgements which seriously impact on people's lives something better could be contrived than eccentric old men in wigs sending more and more individuals into detention.

In a trial two extreme views are put forward, one sympathetic to the accused, the other as damning as possible. By definition neither of these views are accurate. They are spun in accordance with the argument being made. They are part of an adversarial process dominated by two competitors - the prosecution and the defence. They are both extreme positions designed to sway a jury which is then supposed to adopt one or the other view and come to a verdict. The accused will then either walk free or be put down accordingly.

I think this procedure is flawed in its either/or thinking. It leans too heavily on erudite practitioners skilled in rhetoric. The idea that justice or moral intelligence will always emanate from such a procedure is fanciful. Actually it seems to me so stupid as to be incredible that from the presentation of two opposite and distorted views a sensible conclusion might be reached. That a person might then be incarcerated after judgement in such a away as to represent the ruination thereafter of his life is quite astonishing and at times verging on barbaric. Many individuals who are jailed are already damaged goods. Putting them behind bars quite apart from the inadequacies of the court system in coming to sound pronouncements simply compounds their deeply impacted issues.

Who cares? Most are concerned only to the extent that the dangerous ones are put away. Even those who look like they might be dangerous are probably best put away too just in case. Those who definitely did it should be punished no matter their psychological and social history. That the jails are currently full to bursting matters not as long as the bad guys are off the streets.

The penal system and its attendant culture in my view demonstrates an almighty lack of imagination. Its enlightenment status lies somewhere in the dark ages. Something more than reform is necessary. Throw away the thinking and start again.