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I think the author is overestimating the deterrence factor of the justice system. American prisons have a much lower quality of life for their inhabitants than
by diablerouge 7y ago
I think the author is overestimating the deterrence factor of the justice system. American prisons have a much lower quality of life for their inhabitants than many other countries, and yet we also have much higher crime rates than those countries with less horrible prisons.
I think the author is also overestimating the number of calculating criminals who evaluate carefully how likely they are to end up in prison. Crime is often just an emotional response, rather than a pre-meditated action.
- spacemanmatt 7y agoOr maybe we just over-prosecute our public compared to the rest of the world.
- rayiner 7y agoMaybe, maybe not. One thing we have good data for going back a long time is homicide data. US homicides were 5-10x higher than the UK for the entire 20th century. The last time homicide rates in England was as high as the US is today was the 17th century. (Most of the rest of Western Europe was down to current US levels by the 18th century.) Maybe we’re just a much more violent and criminal country.
- whack 7y agoCorrelation is not causation. There are many variables in America that lead to higher crime rates - prison quality of life is only one of them. The article cites scientific studies showing that the certainty of punishment is a very effective deterrent against crime (https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Deterrence-in-Criminal-Justice.pdf https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01...). If you feel otherwise, I would certainly be interested in any studies/data you can cite.