Letter to the Editor

Saving money isn’t the only thing to consider!

Over the past few weeks while the Virginia legislature considers various bills to reform our criminal-legal system, I have been appealing to our Virginia Delegates and Senators to pass bills that limit cruelty by arguing for what is most economical.

But when it comes to cruelty and suffering, all of us in our society are responsible to forces much higher and more potent than the merely financial. If we allow long-term solitary confinement to continue or if we deny paroles or second-chances to people who have earned our consideration (those are just two of the examples), I fear that we incur great moral, spiritual, and legal costs. Morally, we betray our very humanity. Spiritually, we jettison all God has taught us about love and care. Legally, we may well someday be held to account by courts that will take a dim view of our “we didn’t know any better” defense.

We can end long-term solitary confinement (see SB 108) and we can listen to persons who have earned the opportunity for a “second look” from our legal system (see SB 378 and HB 906). And by any such pieces of legislation, we can save quite a bit of our public money over the long haul. But even more than saving money, we can save our humanity, we can joyfully give rein to compassion, and we can save ourselves from legal culpability.

Kathleen Temple

Rockingham County, Virginia"