What is my left hand doing?

• Date: 01 November 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2011.00771.x
• Author: Megan Kurlychek
• Published date: 01 November 2011

POLICY ESSAY

MONTANA EARLY RELEASE PROGRAM

What is my left hand doing?

The need for unifying purpose and policy in the criminal

justice system

Megan Kurlychek

University at Albany, State University of New York

Sometimes when reading research in my field, I am reminded of an old saying that

goes something like this: “Your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is

doing.” Indeed, I am sure many of us who work within or study the criminal justice

“system” can relate to this saying. Although the term “system” (deriving from the Greek

root synthithemi, meaning “I put together”) implies a network of parts put together to work

toward a common goal, it often is the case in the criminal justice system that the parts are

in conflict rather than in unison—at times working independently from one another and

at times working in direct opposition. Indeed, even when the parts do become aware of one

another, as Wright and Rosky (2011, this issue) note with the idea of thermodynamics, the

right hand may serve only to slap the left hand, thus thwarting its efforts.

Although a formal discussion of the opposing philosophies of justice is beyond the

scope of this essay, as a brief introduction to the insanity that surrounds these conflicting

missions, I provide a summary of the most commonly cited goals of criminal justice:

1. To provide “just deserts,” meaning the appropriate punishment for an offense

committed.

2. To incapacitate the most dangerous or “risky” offenders to protect society from their

potential future crimes.

3. To rehabilitate offenders into law-abiding citizens, thereby making it safe to return

them to society.

4. To restore victims and communities to the greatest extent possible to their precrime

status.

Direct correspondence to Megan Kurlychek, School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, State University

of New York, 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12222 (e-mail: mkurlychek@albany.edu).

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-9133.2011.00771.x C2011 American Society of Criminology 909

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 10 rIssue 4