“Then how should nonviolent offenders be punished?”
1. Take their stuff. If they have a pot to piss in, take it and auction it. BUT ONLY as part of a judicial process.
2. Fines and restitution.
3. Electronic handcuffs, curfew, electronic monitoring, community service, chain gangs.
4. Consider a return to corporal punishment.
5. Start thinking real hard about what should and should not be felonious conduct.
Funny thing, God has a way of mirroring our attitudes towards others, even the bad sinners, towards us. We might not sin that bad... yet. But that is one movement of the grace of God away. We should be ready to declare, along with the patriot who just got a parking ticket, that it’s absolutely fair even though we had no idea we would slip that bad when it happened.