R: Justice Is Retributive Before It Is Restorative

There is a famous scene at the beginning of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables where Jean Valjean, the tormented convict, stays the night with a priest. In the morning, he absconds with all the priest’s silver. When Valjean is apprehended by the authorities, the priest does not demand that he pay for his crimes but rather gives the convict his silver candlesticks also, saying, “Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man. ... Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!”

The negative may point to Hugo’s priest as a model of restorative justice. He does not demand that Valjean serve out the requisite sentence for thievery but rather transforms his life through an act of forgiveness and generosity. In the same way, governments should cut their justice with a healthy pouring of mercy, always with the best interest of the criminal at heart. After all, what good is punishment if the criminal merely turns and commits crime again when his sentence is up? Judge, jury, and lawmaker alike should be quick to forgive lawbreakers, treating them gently as the priest treated Valjean. Mere punishment is no way to restore a wayward soul.

The affirmative would protest that while Hugo’s priest is an admirable model for interpersonal conduct, a legal system run in this way would swiftly shipwreck itself. Unpleasant punishment is necessary for two reasons: first, it is inherently just, and second, it is more effective in bringing about restoration. Scripture clearly establishes the principle that the bloodguilty may not go unpunished. Those guilty of serious crimes like murder, rape, or large-scale theft must be severely punished regardless of how repentant they are. Moreover, punishment is the most effective encouragement for genuine repentance. Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov, who repents of his crime but then turns himself in to receive the just punishment, is perhaps a better model for justice than Hugo’s priest.