Things I’ve thought about in a system that works. I’ve heard the main challenge is that Judges and DAs are (often) elected. If you err on the side of putting s

Things I’ve thought about in a system that works. I’ve heard the main challenge is that Judges and DAs are (often) elected. If you err on the side of putting someone in jail for too long or who doesn’t deserve it it’s not as outrageous to the community as if someone slips through the cracks, gets out early and murders someone, etc. So there is huge pressure to avoid false negatives but not so much on false positives, so to speak. Other things too, and there have been cases of illegal kickbacks to judges for sentencing. Right now we seem to be optimizing for number of people in jail per capita - and we lead the world in this. We ought to consider optimizing for lower crime in general (which is much broader than the prison system) but recidivism seems like a good place to start. There are many off the shelf programs that are shown to reduce recidivism, we could start there. I’m also curious about a model of cooperatively run prisons. Perhaps even a model where when you are set free it means you are offered a job in the prison for higher pay since you understand the system and have gained respect of other inmates. This would also allow for mentorship and ongoing relationships. Ideas that seem worth exploring are: Natural outdoor spaces where prisoners farm, build their own tiny homes, meditate, get access to psychedelic therapy, learn leadership skills, make stuff, art, etc. You essentially create a “life / society” incubator for the types of beliefs, behaviors relationships and systems that you are optimizing for in the greater community at large. Reparenting in many ways.