All Punishment is Arbitrary

"All Punishment is Arbitrary"

Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States

All punishment is arbitrary. That is what Janet Reno said. Reno is the former Attorney General of the United States.

Here is an explanation of how this same thought came to my mind one day, even before I knew Reno had said that about punishment.

I was reading my notes from Jane Bluestein's work. One thing she said was that students should have "freedom from arbitrary, indiscriminate and unexpected punishment and reactivity." She was talking about what she called the concept of "emotionally safe schools," something I would very much like to see in reality.

When I first read her article I wondered how a person could feel safe yet also afraid of being punished, even if the punishment wasn't considered "arbitrary, indesciminate or unexpected". Then I thought that perhaps all punishment is arbitrary. Why is a student punished for one hour of isolation for example? Why not two hours or 30 minutes? Or three hours? Or four? Why send someone to jail for 30 days? Why not 29 or 31?

I searched "All punishment is arbitrary" to see what I might find about this idea. I found just a few results, but what was very interesting is that the former Attorney General of the United States is quoted as saying this. There are two scanned newspaper articles from 1993 and one transcription from a talk she gave at a university in 2001. There is also a video clip.

Thinking a little more about what Jane Bluestein said, I wonder also if all or most punishment in school might also be discriminatory, even if at first sight it doesn't appear to be. Let's say, for example, that some students like to talk more than others. Doesn't a rule against talking discriminate against them in favor of those who feel less need or desire to talk?

This is similar to the question of whether schools in general could be said to discriminate against boys since it is widely known that school boys are more energetic than girls, and they feel more constrained in a school classroom where they can not freely move about. So if boys end up being punished more than girls, could we not make a case that this is a form of discrimination?

There are many problems with punishment. As long as we use punishment and the fear of it as a basic means of social control, we will have neither emotionally safe schools, nor societies.