Is forgiveness incomplete if I want a perpetrator to serve time in a correctional institution? I do have a desire to see this person in jail. What do you think?
I think this depends on your motive for having the person sent to a correctional institution. Do you harbor hatred in your heart and want the person to feel pain? Instead, do you want the person to serve time because this person might be a danger to society? Wanting pain for the person does suggest that more forgiveness is necessary because you are not wishing the person well. Wanting to protect members of society without wishing pain on the other is a sense of justice; it is not about forgiveness but about what is fair in society. Yet, even within this idea of wanting pain for the other, there are two nuances here: 1) You want pain for the person as a way to teach this person how to change for the better, or 2) You want to get even, and the pain is your way of doing that. Number 1 here can be part of forgiveness, as you desire the other’s rehabilitation. Number 2 here suggests that your forgiveness needs more work, as it seems connected to revenge.
