5 ms·
Its literally out of sight out of mind for people. This is not an issue where democracy does well - what we need are administrators with a sense of morality an
by taurath 11y ago
Its literally out of sight out of mind for people.
This is not an issue where democracy does well - what we need are administrators with a sense of morality and civic purpose, rather than a mob of people who will respond to any perception of being "weak on crime" by voting for the person creating that perception. There is, frankly, a systemic problem of motivation for anyone to actually fix this - everyone in power gets their cut of the profits here. It seems the american way at this point.
- cstross 11y agoI note that the damage is limited in other countries by not electing judges and prosecutors -- these are appointed civil service posts, and while that has its own drawbacks, it means that nobody below the level of Justice Minister builds a career on the basis of how many convictions they achieve/life sentences they hand out.
- tbrownaw 11y agoI'd think it ought to do a bit better if people who've seen the wrong end of the system didn't tend to get disenfranchised.
- taurath 11y agoEven if they didn't get disenfranchised there would be no "voter block" of ex-cons that would wield any power. What is right frequently takes a backburner to what is profitable or what is politically palatable. Its ineffectual government through and through.
- elcapitan 11y agoMaybe if you have "x-industrial complex" and democracy failing on dealing with it, rather than to give up on democracy it would be a good idea to reduce the "industrial" a bit? I haven't heard other countries have these democratic issues with prisons. At least here in Germany. Maybe the industrial aspect simply corrupts politicians and administrators. How would they make different, less corrupt decisions if they weren't even under some democratic control?
- taurath 11y agoA lot of countries especially if small deal with common values better than the US. Most US prisons are dealt with on the state level, with national players taking over states because frankly they can bring a lot more resources to bear. If prisons were dealt with on a national rather than local level it might be easier to get proper reform in.
- tremon 11y agoI had some trouble parsing your statement on the first reading, but I agree with what you wrote: reform is made more difficult because the regulators (states) are less powerful than the regulated, because the latter operate on a national level.
- crdoconnor 11y ago>This is not an issue where democracy does well Democracy let this happen but "free market" capitalism created the imperative to do it. Credit where credit's due.
- F2468 11y agoIf there was anything resembling free market capitalism, phone prices would not be $10/min...
- crdoconnor 11y agoWell, in DC policy circles, the presumed arbiter of what constitutes "free markets" or "economic freedom": http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking Is very much in favor of private prisons (and, consequently, $10/min phone calls): http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1988/05/bg650-a-guide-to-prison-privatization http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1988/05/bg650-a-gui...
- whatok 11y agoI wonder if their view has changed over the almost 30 years since that research report was published.
- crdoconnor 11y agoIf anything they seem to have gotten more rabid: http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2000/10/the-lefts-prison-complex-the-case-against-the-case-against-jail http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2000/10/the-left...
- whatok 11y agoI wonder if their viewpoint has changed since the more than decade and a half since that article was published. Is it that hard to find something current if it's so fundamental to your argument?
- digi_owl 11y agoKinda gets me thinking about something that showed up in one of Adam curtis' documentaries, but i can't nail down the exact one. something about how the concepts underlying the UK administration was broken down somewhere around the 70s.