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That is not a new idea. It's long been known that punishments are dramatically more effective if they are swift and certain. But, if the solution to crime is si
by slavik81 11y ago
That is not a new idea. It's long been known that punishments are dramatically more effective if they are swift and certain. But, if the solution to crime is simply to catch every criminal immediately after they commit their crime, the question is how will you do that?
The real interesting part of this was the sobriety program. They found a way to identify bad habits at a relatively low cost. How to extend that model to other crimes is unclear. Parole basically exists for that purpose already, so the question is how it can be made more effective.
I just don't really see a clear path to general crime reduction here.
- crusso 11y agoI think that the key generalization you could make is that once someone is shown to be engaging in criminal behavior, it's better to let that person stay free but have frequent checks than to put that person in a prison cell to rot. It probably does work better for something habitual and detectable like alcohol use, but I could see how it could be applied to gang membership and other forms of thuggery. Maybe spending our resources on light consistent touch programs would help more than the significant resources needed for full-time incarceration.