When Punishment Is Enough

My sense is that jailing him now is a purely punitive act — insofar as I know, he hasn’t raped anyone else in the years between his trial and his recent arrest, given his age future rapes are quite unlikely, the circumstances surrounding his case are so unusual that it is unlikely to have any effect on deterring similar crimes in the future, and the victim herself no longer wants him to be tried.

So unless I am missing something — and I may be — punishment is the only reason to try and jail Roman Polanski. Perhaps that helps explain why so many people are calling for his release.

But not me.

Assuming for the sake of argument that there isn’t anything going on here except purely punitive justice, I say punish him — send him to jail for the rest of his life, and sully his name.