Crime and Punishment
Posted February 22, 2009, 07:02 ET
The Washington Post today offers a startling new insight into the debate about Guantanamo. In a story headed “From Captive to Suicide Bomber,” the sub-heading continues, “Accused of Being Little More Than a Low-Level Taliban Fighter, Abdallah al-Ajmi Was held by the U.S. for Nearly Four Years. After his Release, He Blew Up an Iraqui Army Outpost. Did Guantanamo Propel Him to Do It?”
In other words, more jail, more crime. That would explain things we formerly found puzzling, such as the famous N.Y. Times headline “More People Are Jailed, but Crime Rate Increases.” How did that ever happen?
Clearly, if people steal, kill or wage war against the United States, the worst thing we could do is lock them up. Punishment doesn’t deter crime, it causes it. But for the WaPo we might have thought that Abdallah was kept at Gitmo precisely because we feared that, on being released, he’d do just what he did. Now we know better…
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