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I was not saying that the justice system should avoid pain to the guilty but rather work on a principle of least harm. If a person has slain several people, and
by fsloth 10y ago
I was not saying that the justice system should avoid pain to the guilty but rather work on a principle of least harm. If a person has slain several people, and it is likely he will do so again, society might be better off with the person locked away. A life imprisonment can be, if not canceled, then terminated and amended financially.
It of course depends on the nature of the prison. I would claim it could be just like a regular apartment - except you can't leave. There is no reason for it to be doomy , gloomy and grimy if the raison detre is to protect the society from the person locked away.
I think norway's treatment of prisoners is great example of how to do this as sensibly as possible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Norway
- kahrkunne 10y agoOne of the major purposes of prisons is deterrence, and for that prisons need to be awful.
- yusee 10y agoIn theory, harsh prison conditions deter would-be criminals. Do you have any evidence that reality conforms to this theory?
- tmptmp 10y ago>>Do you have any evidence that reality conforms to this theory? Do you have any evidence that reality doesn't conform to this theory? Not a counter-question just for the sake of counter-questioning; I am sincerely interested in knowing.
- fsloth 10y agoWhile longer prison sentences do deter crime up to a point ( http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2016/03/criminal-justice http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2016/03/criminal...) I've not seen any data that would grade effectiveness of prisons based on their awfullness. No matter how "cushy" the prison environment is, it's still a prison. Awful prisons only dehumanize convicts and guards alike for no purpose.