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We really need to have a collective discussion on what "justice" really is. Most people don't care about prison reform because it's a place for bad people who
by pstuart 6y ago
We really need to have a collective discussion on what "justice" really is.
Most people don't care about prison reform because it's a place for bad people who did bad things, and they don't deserve good things.
While that attitude is fucked up on the morality of it alone, it also ends up being pro-crime, as it promotes a system that is designed to create more criminals.
- Quekid5 6y ago"We"? I think a lot of the Scandiwegian countries already decided that rehabilitation is the best course. You may agree/disagree with that, I'm just pointing out that the discussion has been had (and is essentially over) in quite a few places. EDIT: Also, I absolutely agree, fwiw. If the discussion hasn't been had in your country, please do push for it.
- pstuart 6y agoSorry, I pulled an americanism and had the US primarily in mind :-). Scandiwegia is a lovely exception and should be rightfully proud of that.
- danielscrubs 6y agoWell it’s not surprising. Prison is basically a school for criminals on how to become even better at being criminals. Our Scandinavian politicians are almost solely focused on the number off how likely a person is to commit a crime after a prison sentence has been fulfilled, and our stats say that criminals become worse, so they shorten the prison sentence more and more. The prison system is broken because hanging around with morally broken people is not good for anyone. Let me point out that prison sentences for minor drug offenses are quite rare so we don’t have much of that particular problem.
- pstuart 6y agoThe War on Drugs was literally designed to create more criminals -- and only in that has it been successful.
- lawnchair_larry 6y agoNo, it was designed to reduce crime and drug availability. Nobody would design a program with the goal of creating more crime.
- pstuart 6y agoThere's plenty of evidence out there that refutes your assumption (happy to provide it if you're interested). It's not that they wanted more crime -- they wanted criminalized behavior to wield as a weapon against people of color (and hippies, in Nixon's case). If it was ever about reducing harm from drugs there's plenty of better ways to do that, don't you think?
- manigandham 6y agoIt's extremely hard to understand how things are on the inside without direct experience. This makes it difficult to even discuss the topic, even if you find people have the empathy for it. There are also too many vested commercial interests in keeping the status quo.
- bigbubba 6y agoThat prisons are or should be about justice in the first place seems worthy of skepticism. It seems to me prisons have many possible uses. Rehabilitation is a popular one, as is justice/retribution/revenge/punishment/deterrent (these all seem like different perspectives on the same concept.) These two broad motivations for prisons, rehabilitation or retribution, often dominate discussions about prisons, but what of the simple utility in keeping dangerous people away from those they might want to harm? A prison need not be inherently punishing to achieve this end, nor does it necessarily need to be rehabilitating (though rehabilitation would help keep costs low in the long run.)
- pstuart 6y agoRevenge should explicitly not be part of the system. Deterrence and public safety should be the key drivers. "Rehabilitation" has a nice ring to it, but the only institutional approach for that is education. It would be cheaper to pay for an apartment/tuition/food than to house someone in a prison: https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/19/how-much-does-it-cost-send-someone-prison/ https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/19/how-much-does-it-cost...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]