Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Mike Snyder PUNISHMENT SEEN AS DETERRENCE What is the purpose of punishment in the criminal justice system? Seventy-two prospective jurors in state District Judge Denise Collins' court were asked recently to answer that rather broad question. The answers might shed some light on public attitudes about crime and punishment. The question arose during jury selection in the case of a man charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. The prosecutor and the defense lawyer each questioned members of the jury panel about their backgrounds, experiences and attitudes to determine which would be the best jurors from each side's point of view. Most questions were answered by a show of hands. But in one case, prosecutor Linda Hood went through the panel individually and asked each potential juror to choose one factor -- rehabilitation, retribution or deterrence -- as the general goal of punishment in a criminal case. In response to questions, Hood defined retribution as punishment for its own sake, based on the idea that certain acts are so reprehensible that justice requires the perpetrator to suffer. She defined deterrence as preventing the defendant, and perhaps other people, from committing the same acts in the future. No one asked her to define rehabilitation. Hood acknowledged that many jurors might believe that punishment should accomplish all three of the listed goals, to one degree or another. But she insisted that each juror choose just one. Presumably, the answers reflected the factor that each juror considered most important. More than half of the potential jurors -- perhaps 40 to 45 of the 72 on the panel -- answered, "deterrence." Most of the rest -- 20 to 25 -- answered "retribution." Only a handful answered "rehabilitation." (These figures are a rough approximation based on the observations of this reporter, who was on the panel but was not chosen as a juror.) Several potential jurors qualified their answers, saying they would like to answer "rehabilitation," but felt that, realistically, this goal is rarely accomplished. Mike Snyder - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck