According to legal scholars, there are several widely accepted reasons to incarcerate a felon. Let’s take a
quick look at each as they apply to 72-year-old Wallace Finlay, who this month was sentenced to three years in jail for fatally shooting Donald Axthelm in the back after the latter had entered Finlay’s home in the middle of the night.
1. Incapacitation: A felon in prison cannot commit additional crimes while imprisoned. In Finlay’s case that’s true, but was it a reasonable consideration in his case?
Finlay had no record of previous offenses and wouldn’t have one now if Axthelm hadn’t wandered into his apartment for reasons that will probably never be known. Was it necessary to send him to prison to ensure he didn’t reoffend?
2. Deterrence: The threat of punishment can often deter others from committing similarly illegal acts, but Finlay’s situation is a poor example to cite.
As someone with an intellectual handicap, Finlay undoubtedly reacted badly. But is it realistic to expect a non-impaired person in a similarly terrifying situation to perform differently based solely on their recollection of how Finlay was punished?
3. Restitution: A felon can be required to take some action to at least partially return the victim to the status quo. In this case, however, the “victim” is dead and can’t be returned to anything resembling his status quo.
4. Rehabilitation: The punishment changes the felon in order to make him a better citizen afterwards.
Again, Finlay is 72 years old, intellectually challenged and had never committed a crime in his life. How, exactly, will this experience make him a better citizen afterwards?
No one is suggesting Finlay didn’t use poor judgment, which cost Axthelm his life. But in a time when prison space is at a premium, you have to ask why someone who fits none of the prescribed motivations for incarceration is being sent to jail.
Unless, that is, there’s another motivation — a prosecutor facing a serious election challenge who wants to show how tough he is by sending a confused old man to jail.
