Permanent Probation

I recently read a science fiction novel where there was a class (or caste) of society called "permanent probationers" (PPs). That status is determined by psychological tests that deem them to be potentially dangerous to society. They therefore have significant restrictions on movement, employment, and residency.

This is exactly what is happening to the majority of sex offenders in this country. Arizona typically includes lifetime probation as a sentence in these cases, in addition to the lifetime sex offender registration prevalent in most states. There is little to no consideration of the actual offense, whether there was actual sexual contact, whether there was violence, or consent, or even the age of the perpetrator.

Ironically however, as opposed to the science fiction scenario, I underwent a psychological exam which indicated that I was highly unlikely to act out on my attraction or to re-offend. I have no idea how such things can be determined mathematically, but the profile assessed a 0.05% chance of re offending or acting out. Yet I was given lifetime probation.

I do not believe that this lifetime probation is being assigned to any other class of felons. I have heard that it was challenged in the courts as being unconstitutional, as " cruel and unusual punishment" but was upheld by the Federal courts because each state has the right to administer its own penalties. So much for the "supreme law of the land." Of course we have seen constitutional violations becoming commonplace in many areas of society in recent years.

An obvious question to me is how bad do things have to get before they get better? Everything passes through cycles. Time and place seem to be a random determinant of circumstances. Had I been born in another time or place, with the same charges, I would not be facing the same penalties or persecutions. Of course, I could have been a slave, or worse. I think about how in another phase of my life, these factors worked to my benefit. The fact that I was able to travel the world, and to make good money merely for being able to speak the language I learned from birth, always struck me as an incredible stroke of fortune, based also on time and place.

So perhaps what goes around comes around. I find it, though, an interesting anomaly that morality, legality, opportunity, and even spirituality are so influenced and dictated by geography and chronology. I suppose that this is the nature of the cosmos, all is impermanent. Except of course, "permanent probation."