America's Christian Right has long made the idea of 'law and order' an important political slogan. Religious conservatives have attacked the prison system for being too lenient, for emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment, for pampering prisoners, and for being too sentimental. It's as if they are more interested in the vengeful God of the Old Testament than the forgiving Jesus of the New Testament. There is a precedence for such arguments, but it's not a pleasant one.
In Hitler’s Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany, Nikolaus Wachsmann writes:
The prison was ridiculed and attacked for having been soft on criminals and perverted by pedagogical illusions. Otto-Georg Thierack, who later served as Hitler’s Minister of Justice, in 1936 described the Weimar prison service as ‘stupid’ and ‘crazy’. Inmates had been much better off than civilians on the outside, Thierack alleged, with an abundance of food, music, games and fun. ...
[T]he picture of the Weimar prison as a hotel for pampered criminals had already been popular on the nationalist right in the last years of Weimar. [...] Articles in right-wing newspapers described penal institutions as a mix between a five-star hotel and an amusement park, with smoking room, tennis club and gourmet meals. While the prisoners were enjoying life to the full, these articles charged, ordinary and honest citizens had to work hard, without being able to afford similar luxuries.
The parallels between attacks on prisons in the Weimar Republic and attacks on American prisons over the past few decades are clear. One connection which deserves some attention lies in the Christian religion of those concerned: rather than forgiveness, the Christians conservatives in both Germany and America are seen making demands for ever harsher punishments — as if there were some fear that criminals might not be suffering enough. What could the origin of such fears possibly be?
Wachsmann also quotes from a journal of prison officials that published 13 demands in 1933, just after Hitler’s appointment as chancellor, which insists that where the aim of prison is concerned, "retribution and deterrence have to be emphasised above the betterment and education of criminal offenders. The improvement of discipline in the penal institutions has to be pursued with every possible means." These have also been goals of conservative Christians in America — but what is "Christian" about placing retribution above rehabilitation?
Perhaps an answer lies in Christians' fear of becoming engulfed by immorality — particularly sexual immorality, but all behavior that involves a loss of control (like drugs) or the social dominance of Protestant Christians (like illegal immigration) is targeted. Attacks on the prison system during the Weimar Republic were accompanied by a growing fear of crime, particularly sexual crime. People wanted police to crack down on crime and prisons to crack down on criminals because a sensationalist media convinced them that society was falling apart at the seams:
Weimar was always obsessed with crime. The flourishing tabloid press and illustrated magazines, eager to increase circulation, surpassed one another with sensational stories about members of the criminal underworld. ...Trials were covered in great depth and the newspapers printed ever more lurid reports of executions, including eyewitness accounts of the last moments in the life of the condemned criminal. ...This fixation on crime was intensified by modern police methods, which tried to involve the public in solving crimes. ...In short, crime seemed to be everywhere. [...]
The moral panic about crime strengthened calls for tougher measures. This was linked to the changing political climate in Germany, as the drift to the far right was accompanied by demands for a more authoritarian approach to punishment. The supposed crime wave was blamed on the weakness of the liberal system, accused of protecting the individual criminal rather than the general public.
[emphasis added]
Religious and authoritarian parties succeeded in Germany in part because they succeeded in making people afraid. The public's fear of crime made them less supportive of the Weimar Republic than they were previously, but also more supportive of authoritarian solutions. Crime was hyped to appear more serious than it really was, then groups like Jews, gays, liberals, communists and others were made scapegoats for it all.
Because these groups threatened to reduce an ordered society into anarchy, they were regarded not just as common criminals, but as enemies of the state. Authoritarian beliefs about punishment encouraged authoritarian beliefs about society overall — greater authoritarianism in one area of life makes it easier to accept greater authoritarianism elsewhere. In Germany, moral panics about crime led to repressive measures against criminals; moral panics about Jews led to repressive measures against them.
In modern America, the Christian Right has sought to create moral panics about gay marriage, civil rights for gays, abortion, Terri Schiavo, the threat of terrorism, illegal immigration, and so forth. In each case, Christians argue that evil forces conspire to undermine America, Christian civilization, and orderly society. Scapegoats are also identified: gays, atheists, godless liberals, humanists, and now increasingly pagans as well. The only hope for salvation (political and religious) is to accept authoritarian solutions offered by conservative Christian leaders who claim to know what is best for everyone — after all, they know God’s will for America.
There are things which one might legitimately panic about, but “moral” panics are creations of people who seek to exercise greater power over others. A moral panic is a grand drama involving evil villains, innocent victims, and righteous saviors who will establish a happy ending if we just allow them to act — all that is required from us is that we surrender our liberty and autonomy. Rather than "abuse" our freedoms, we should submit to God. We know how this story turned out for Germany; how will it turn out for America's Christian Right?
