Perhaps shock treatment will be prescribed for you. Or a sentence of "one day to life." That means an indefinite term that only ends when you're pronounced "cured" by the prison review board. Maybe you'll lose custody of your kids because of your parenting style-possibly even before they've exhibited criminal behavior or broken the law. During the 20th century, some children were taken from their Catholic parents and given to Protestant families who would raise them "right."

Members of Florencia 13 gang outside school. South Central, L.A. Joseph Rodriguez, 1992 East Side Stories.

Who gets to decide what a "productive," "fulfilling" life is? Is it even possible for such a diverse, crowded nation to have that kind of singular social norm?

This type of theorizing could be used to justify changing the social contributors to crime. Eradicating poverty or ensuring a certain level of education, for example. So far, though, we have primarily chosen to focus on criminal offenders, not the environment. And no matter how much you "reform" people, if you put them back into the situations that caused their problems in the first place, the resocialization may fall by the wayside.