The purpose of court mandated jail or prison time is fourfold: 1) So as to “impose discipline” upon the perpetrator; 2) So to “obtain justice” for the victim; 3) So as to “set an example” for would-be perpetrators; and 4) Remove the perpetrator from “civil” society. For the most part all of these make logical sense. However, on close scrutiny two main objections should be considered: A) Neither jail nor prison have been places where self-reflection and self-discipline are actively encouraged or inculcated; B) There is often a “reason” why the perpetrator disobeyed the law, and this “reason” is hardly ever addressed. A prototypical “reason” was dramatized in the famous Broadway musical drama, “Les Miserables,” wherein theft of loaf of bread by a hungry man living in squalor, was punished severely. This hungry man was not morally insensitive: He was financially unviable, metabolically challenged, emotionally distraught, and socially disenfranchised.

Prolonged incarceration in jail or a sentence for prison time very often “breaks a man” in ways that are irreversible, amounting, in some cases to premature death. The act of arresting and incarcerating a man for a misdemeanor (act of mischief) constitutes a grave injustice because the resulting criminal record and press postings make him unemployable for life. Given the vast numbers of “white-collar crimes” committed by business executives that pass undetected and unpunished, this article is a call for revising the rules by which police and the criminal courts operate in the interest of societal harmony and personal well-being of citizens.