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Where is your evidence that prison doesn't deter petty crimes, burglary, rape, etc.?

• DanBC 11y ago
  You make a good point, but I rather think the burden of evidence that prison is a deterrent rests on the people who recommend it, seeing as prison is a pretty significant interference with someone's human rights. I should say that I have no problem of prison for repeat violent criminals. Some people say that prison stops those people committing crime while they're in prison, but it doesn't even do that. Look at the rates of violent crime happening in US prisons (which I accept are unusual) to see evidence of that. There's not much evidence that a stay in prison stops a person from re-offending; it seems that there's a bunch of "psycho-social" stuff (housing, debt management, employment, education, drug and alcohol treatment) that would be more effective at stopping re-offending. (Or preventing crime). And do we really want to deprive someone of their liberty in prison for "petty crime"? I'm not sure what you mean about petty crime.