Letter: Crime prevention is not that simple

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 | 8:06 a.m.

It seems that Rob Litchie, in his Nov. 11 letter -- "Why not cut off their thumbs?"-- is in favor of permanently maiming citizens (presumably convicted) through the criminal justice system as "punishment" for, and inherently a deterrent against, misdemeanor crimes (graffiti in this case). Really! Deterrent indeed!

If crime prevention were that easy, imagine the possibilities. We, as a society, could boil to death in oil all convicted felons (on national television perhaps?). How many folks would have to be boiled to death before court dockets became devoid of felony cases? Really! Somehow, state-sanctioned maiming (and/or killing by whatever means, for that matter) doesn't seem to be the solution to crime prevention.

Perhaps we, as a society -- as opposed to a collection of individuals -- would be better served looking into the social circumstances that give rise to criminal behavior and modifying them.

Mark Bennett

Las Vegas

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