Crime, punishment and culture

Okay guys, there are some friends who have been asking me to write in English. (Remember, only some friends. I don't think of myself as a big shot blogger who has requests coming from left and right haha).  Maybe I'll start to do it at some point but all I have now is this more serious piece. It is a shortened and a bit modified version of an essay I wrote for Uni. Yeah yeah boring academic stuff I know. If you're not into that feel free to skip it. :)

Just a side note, all of our essays are not this informal but I just wanted to put some heart and honesty into this one.

Anyway, we had this super interesting course about prisons and justice systems in different countries. Mostly about Finland, Estonia, Russia, The US and Britain. I just brainstormed it and handed it in but decided to put it on the blog because well, why not?

I want to emphasize that these are just my humble opinions as a student who still doesn't know anything about the topics. It is too difficult to put all of the important points to one blog post but at least here's a sneak peak on what I personally think.

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A month ago I knew hardly anything about life in prisons. Of course I, like everyone else, had some ideas about prisons based on the media and movies. As a person who is given the ability to think critically I knew that these ideas and images are only a superficial, black and white and “the tip of the iceberg” on the topics. Still I know nothing about life inside a prison. But I think it's okay to say I know a little bit more.

Life inside any prison is hard, whether you are in a top security prison in Russia or taking a “spa vacation” in a Finnish open prison. First of all prisoners lose their freedom and in many countries they can lose so much more – their right to be a human, their family and friends, their values and their identities. In many countries prisoners are treated quite similarly as cage animals. In some places rehabilitation is emphasized. However, often it is defended with the argument “we need more productive workers and tax payers”. Money rules the world so this argument makes sense.

But what about human rights?

The defenders of human rights of prisoners are often shot down by saying “honey, the world doesn't work that way” or “they made their choices, they deserve whatever punishment they get”. People have the tendency to look the other way and deny the fact that they could very easily be in a serial killer’s or in a drug dealer’s position. A bit provocative argument, huh? Let me explain.

People have reasons to do bad, horrible and devastating choices. I am not saying that they have the right to do them, usually they don’t. I'm just saying that if my family would have mistreated me, if I would not have had the luxury to grow up in one of the richest countries in the world or if I would have mental health issues (a side note – don’t we all have them, smaller or bigger?) or many other possible examples, I could be a serial killer myself. Generally people do not want to accept this because it sounds too horrible.

Criminal justice is a very complex theme. It has been discussed since the times of ancient Greece and I am quite sure that also Plato and Socrates had some views on the topic. Every person has their experiences and opinions about how criminals should be punished. It is possible to make a vague consensus based on these opinions, which is called the criminal justice system. Another problem is that culture, people’s lifestyles and the crimes that are committed change from one time period to another. However, it is very difficult to change the prison systems. 

The culture and general ideology of a country matters a lot in what kind of justice system works. In Finland we have a historical idea of universalism. Even though this idea is fading away due to our current politics and other factors there are still many supporters of equality, humanism and treating people in a way they would want to be treated themselves. 

Most Finnish people have an upbringing with a great sense of independence. Many Finns move away from their parents’ house when they turn 18, some even sooner. This is why the ‘freedom punishment’ works quite well in our culture. When a Finnish person loses their freedom it is a huge punishment. This is one of the reasons why our system is difficult to transfer into other countries. Of course we cannot forget the influence of recourses or the lack of them.
 

I also continued developing another opinion which is: America – what a f-cked up country you are.

It is very difficult to have a functioning system in a country as massive as The US especially when all of the states have their own laws, and therefore also flaws. Especially the story of wrongfully convicted Scott Hornoff was something that I will remember. I felt honoured that he shared it with us even though it must have been very difficult for him. 

There are so many people continuously convicted with too little evidence. Some of these people are spending their whole life in high security prisons, some of them are exonerated, but all of them lose a big part of their lives. I do not want to romanticize the Finnish system because this must happen in our country as well. However, it is possible to minimize the wrongful convictions. Not easy but possible.

All of us have hardships and difficult times in life sooner or later. 

For some people the hardships make them end up in prisons. Or at least in some countries you can use the term ‘end up’. I am proud to say that in Finland this is hardly ever the case. I am proud to say that in Finland we address the social side of issues so complex as crime and punishment instead of the ‘eye for an eye’ or even ‘one’s life for an eye’ type of thinking. I am proud to say that I like many of my Finnish colleagues did not raise our hand when an important question about supporters of death penalty was raised. Death penalty has so many negative side effects, many of them I was not even familiar with before, such as that death penalty often costs more than a lifetime in prison. 

I do not mean to be arrogant and I very well acknowledge the fact that I haven't done enough research to know the right answer for issues like this. Especially when knowing 'the right answer' is impossible. 

All I know is that there is a lot of idiotism in this world, even amongst "intelligent and educated" University students. Our job as human beings is to get a deeper understanding on things, stay humble and open to criticism and try our best to spread our views to the world.

 

Sunset on the ship to St. Petersburg. 

Something that I was able to appreciate because hey, I am free. 

Cheers <3