Law Enforcement: After a Crime

[kindnesstheorist]

Government follow-up on criminal activity should involve uncovering and spreading verifiable information on the details of the crime, protecting and supporting any victims, and addressing the crime with the criminal, if a criminal can be identified. Interaction with the criminal should not take the form of punishment, as hurting people for the sake of those people being hurt is not kind. Rather, such interaction should be directed to other ends, including:

• Discouragement of the commission of crime for benefit, such as requiring the return of stolen property.
• Prevention of recidivism from a position of power, such as barring a medical practitioner convicted of fraud from practice for a period of time.
• Limited longer-term monitoring, such as mandatory meetings with a parole official.
• Opportunities to develop alternatives to criminal activity, such as an opt-out assignment to group counseling for anger management.

Criminals should under no circumstances be subjected to torture or other inhumane treatment. Nonconsensual restrictions on former criminals should be proportionate to the significance of the crime, limited in scope to affect only potentially criminal actions, and respectful of human dignity.