It costs more to police and imprison people than it does to provide the social services (housing, food, medical care, transportation, dignity) that would keep p

It costs more to police and imprison people than it does to provide the social services (housing, food, medical care, transportation, dignity) that would keep people from harming society. Back when breaking bad was on the air there was a commonly repeated joke about "canadian breaking bad" where Walter White gets diagnosed with cancer and then gets treatment and never cooks meth. But it's not just a joke, it's real. And yet for a wide variety of reasons (many of which are incentivized by business) people would rather spend money to enforce and punish than to help and prevent.