Question: Unfortunately, we are still far from the moment when society will develop a well worked method of healing the psyche of criminals. No one can guarantee that when they are released from prison, they will not harm other people again. Is it the state’s task to protect its citizens? In terms of the law of free will, is it fair to allow those who have severely harmed their victims to return to a place where they can repeat those atrocities? And doesn’t society take some responsibility for such repeated crimes since they could have been prevented if the perpetrator had not been given that opportunity? Are there any options for solving this problem?
Answer from the Ascended Master Mother Mary through Kim Michaels. This answer was given at the 2024 New Year webinar.
Well, it is certainly true that society bears some responsibility if it releases a criminal who then goes out and does more crimes. It is also very true that society has the responsibility to the fact that the criminal justice system is currently focused on punishment rather than helping criminals heal the psychology that caused them to be criminals.
There is no easy solution to this in the short term other than realizing that you need to move beyond the current justice system that is focused on punishment. And one way to do this is, of course, to say what is the ultimate purpose of having a justice system that arrests criminals and puts them in jail for offenses they have done? But it is ultimately to protect the citizens who are law-abiding citizens. Having a certain crime such as stealing from other people be associated with a prison sentence of so and so many years is not an optimum approach. Obviously, being in prison often will not reform the criminal so it will go out again and do the same thing again. This is not fulfilling the responsibility towards those citizens who are not criminals. What can be done?
Well, you have two options here. Either you extend the prison sentences or you create some kind of process for helping criminals do two things. One is to increase their skills so that they can actually come out of prison and have a better opportunity for making an honest living rather than having to steal. And number two, resolve their psychology so they are not trapped in this self-centered state of mind where they think it is legitimate to steal from other people. Of course, the same thing can to some degree be applied to more severe crimes. And, of course, as you say, this is not currently realistic in many countries but it is certainly the way society needs to move. But, of course, in the golden age there will be much more focus on preventing people from becoming criminals. By, as I have described, helping them from an early age learn how to deal with their psychology so they can function well in society and make a living without having to go into crime.
Or they can overcome the psychology so they do not respond with violence or murder when they feel they are in a difficult situation. In the long run, it is really a matter of preventing more than punishing crime. And this, of course, can only be done by working with the psychology of people because what is it that turns a criminal into a criminal? It is unresolved psychology. There are many theories out there and some say that some people are genetically predisposed to commit crime. Some people have a brain disorder that makes them disposed to commit crime. All of this is not the ultimate understanding. The ultimate cause of crime is unresolved psychology from past lives and unless you can find a way as a society to help people with this, you cannot prevent crime. But in the golden age societies will begin to do this, and therefore, you will see the crime rates drop dramatically. Of course, in the golden age, there will also, at least in an interim period, have a system where if somebody does commit a crime, they will not be put in a prison that is punishment but in various facilities that help them resolve the psychology. And only if they show no unwillingness to this, will they be put in more of a prison situation. Because society will realize that if people are not willing to resolve their psychology, you cannot let them out into society again.
Copyright © 2024 Kim Michaels