> It may also incentivize people to avoid going to prison. What is the incentive to avoid prison? Pretty unlikely, see DOJ research[1]. severity of punishment,

> It may also incentivize people to avoid going to prison. What is the incentive to avoid prison? Pretty unlikely, see DOJ research[1]. severity of punishment, including the death penalty, does little to deter crime. It seems unlikely that the threat of forced labor would somehow deter something that the threat of years behind bars or death would not. > How does society recoup losses from crime? In civilized societies, we recoup losses from crime by leveraging incarceration of a criminal to apply methods proven to reduce recidivism. trying to recoup losses of a past crime at the expense of preventing a life of future crime isn't a winning strategy imo. > Does the 13th amendment exist to disincentivize crime? I don't know the history behind the specific language with the exclusion for criminals. It exists to free the enslaved population. the exception of criminals exists to throw the south a bone during reconstruction. [1] https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf