School Bells – Current Affairs – Grade 8 – week 30
I am eager to hear what these bright, compassionate 8th graders recommend regarding the treatment of those we currently diagnose as a sociopath or a psychopath.
The students are now arriving.
Me. Good morning class.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies?
Me: Sorry. No cookies this week. Next week I promise.
I am eager to hear the results of the discussion you and your family had regarding the treatment of those we may label as sociopaths – those who are unable to consider the needs of others.
Will: As I recall Mr. Jim we were to exclude those with mental illness or who have an addiction problem.
Me: That is correct Will. Although many addicts may appear unable to feel or express remorse or be unable to consider the needs of others, once they begin to recover they will often able to do so. Of course, it is possible for someone to be both a sociopath and have an addiction issue.
Will: Can I read something?
Me: Sure Will, please do.
Will: When we looked it up on the internet on http://eyesofasociopath.weebly.com/statistics.html as well as on other sites, we found out that there seems to be general agreement that” between 15 to 25 per cent of inmates may be sociopaths and 3 to 5 per cent of the general population may considered sociopaths. According to the U. S. Bureau of Justice statistic for the year 2013, 2, 220, 300 people in the United States were in jail/prison and another 4,751, 400 people were on parole or probation.” That would mean that 1, 045,755 and 1, 742, 925 people are sociopaths and either in jail or on parole/probation. That is a lot of people Mr. Jim. We are spending a lot of money on these people.
Me: Very good Will. What is the primary question we need to ask?
Abdul: You always tell us that we need to ask if the approach is working Mr. Jim. How do we know if it is working?
Me: Good question Abdul. We need to ask the goal of the current approach. What do you think is the goal?
Paul: My family and I talked about this and it seems as if the goal is to punish. That is called retrib... Oh, what is the word Uncle Jim?
Me: Retributive justice is defined by various people but the web site “plato.standford.edu” seems to state it well:
“The concept of retributive justice has been used in a variety of ways, but it is best understood as that form of justice committed to the following three principles: (1) that those who commit certain kinds of wrongful acts, paradigmatically serious crimes, morally deserve to suffer a proportionate punishment; (2) that it is intrinsically morally good—good without reference to any other goods that might arise—if some legitimate punisher gives them the punishment they deserve; and (3) that it is morally impermissible intentionally to punish the innocent or to inflict disproportionately large punishments on wrongdoers.”
Paul: All the evidence we found seems to suggest that it does not work very well; that if we treat people badly, a lot of them seems to just commit more crimes.
Me: Are there other approaches to justice?
Amena: We were reading about restorative justice Mr. Jim where the person committing the crime and the victim or the victim’s family meet.
Me: What happens when they meet Amena?
Amena: it seems as if the goal is for the criminal to make amends and the victim or the family of the victim to forgive and maybe understand how any of us could do something terrible.
Me: Very good Amena. There are also other approaches to justice and other interpretations of both restorative and retributive justice but there is another point we may be missing. Does anyone know what that might be?
Ann: My family and I noticed that you worded the question in a way which indicated that the sociopath was unable to consider the needs of other or the effect of his or her behavior on others. If the person is unable to consider the needs of others, how can we punish them?
Me: By saying unable is that the same thing as saying that they were legally incompetent or not able to be responsible for their actions?
Susie: We talked about that and the legal definition of incompetent or insane is very narrow.
John: We talked about that also. An autistic person might not be able feel empathy but they are still considered legally responsible for their actions.
Me: Yes, our laws and how we treat people do not always match what we are finding out about how the brain affects our behavior. We also seem to get very fearful that someone will pretend to not be able to think of others but just be a bad person.
John: What does it mean to be a bad person? Can we tell what is going on in the brain, Uncle Jim?
Me: There are studies which show that there are parts of the brains of sociopaths or psychopaths which are undeveloped. The good news is that it may be possible for that part of the brain to develop even in later life.
Paul: Can that happen in prison Uncle Jim?
Me: No, not well. Prisons are very stressful places and stress inhibits the growth or healing of many parts of the body including the brain.
Tom: We seem to be saying that our current approach is not based on what we know about the brain.
Paul: We also seem to be saying that no one benefits from our current approach.
Me: Those are excellent observations. You and others your age are going to become the future scientists, politicians, judges and others who are going to have to decide whether society is better served by different goals and more scientific approaches or whether we are just going to keep building more jails.
Ann: Do we know if every sociopath can be helped?
Me: No, currently it does not appear that all can be helped.
Susie: But if they cannot think differently should they be treated badly or kept in a safe place?
Me: That is another great question Susie. If you and other young people were in charge today and asking these questions we might be closer to a more effective approach. I am once again very impressed.
Sadly, we are nearly out of time. How about for next week we talk about whether there are any scientific ways of knowing what is right and wrong. There is a Ted Talk by Sam Harris entitled “Science can answer moral questions” which you and your family might want to listen to before you start your discussion.
John will you hand out the assignment please?
(John does so.)
Have a good week everyone. Great job.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Class: Bye Mr. Jim
Written March 28, 2017
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