Public Canings

Personally, I'm a big believer that a citizen ought to be able to walk streets, do his/her job, go to the coffee-house, ride the sub-way, etc., in safety. In some ways, we have a state of semi-anarchy rising in the U.S.A.. In order to supress it, I believe public canings should be part of our crimminal justice system with the following absolute rules. Keep in mind that this is part of a great number of reforms I've been out-lining that would also include stronger prisoner rights, and other changes to make our authorities more just and helpful.

1.) Public canings should only be administered in cases where proof is virtually absolute, i.e. not in most cases

2.) Public canings should only be administered in the case of a violent crime or a crime that put other's safety and/or lives in danger(not drug dealing.) Prison rape and assault should be targeted especially(and the common "illegal" guard beatings should be cut down.)

3.) Public canings should not be given in excess of ten strokes and never more than once a week(for separate offenses.) They should be applied by a martial artist with a bamboo cane on the back or buttocks, and should be hard.

4.) Owners of dogs should be criminally liable for the actions of such off of their property, in the case of loose dogs. This counts as violent crime.

5.) Physicals should be administered and those in truly frail health should never be caned; Government should never be sued for a caning following these rules: if somebody happens to die, that's part of the punishment.

Benefits of this concept are:

1.) To the crimminal class, jail and prison are often just not that scary. A public caning is quite painful and humiliating.

2.) Many prison sentences are too long and too expensive for society, and often make people worse rather than better citizens. This way, we can cut down on the time and let people live more of their lives free, but let them know that their behavior brings serious consequences.