If the authoritarian mindset is mirrored by its punitive response to criminal justice, then ours is the most authoritarian nation in human history. As a result, many in our society, both conservatives and liberals, consider prosecution and punishment the appropriate, if not exclusive, response to crime and wrongdoing. If we are to ever become the egalitarian society our belief in democracy calls us toward, we must break free of this punitive paradigm to envision and execute a better way.