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there is always risk/reward calculation. if you replace prison time with home arrest, then you remove downside to being caught. Especially for second/Nth time

by slt2021 4y ago

there is always risk/reward calculation. if you replace prison time with home arrest, then you remove downside to being caught. Especially for second/Nth time offenders.

BoorishBears 4y ago
If you're good with risk/reward you generally don't do crime (at least, not the kind that doesn't already leave you in the kind of minimum security-style prison being proposed here). In 2015 the average robbery netted less than $2,000 while the average sentence length was almost 10 years. Risking 10 years of your life for $2,000 isn't something that people who understand risk/reward will do, how bad things are while you spend those 10 years is basically a rounding error compared to just how terrible of an idea it already is.
- smegger001 4y ago
  if the cost to imprison someone is far larger than damages done maybe it would be cheaper for the tax payer to just make the victim whole and give the criminal a lesser sentence.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    There are a large number of crimes for which money can not make the victim whole.
  - jsmith99 4y ago
    The damage done is far greater than the gain to the thief.
unionpivo 4y ago
People often think that's the case, because it kind of makes sense. But real world data suggest it doesn't work that way. In fact you are generally just making your problems worse. First and biggest problem is, that it turns small time crooks into hardcore criminals, because that's the only way to survive on the inside. So unless you never plan on releasing anyone out of prison, having bad prisons is not great idea. Second If prisons are so bad, it makes it more likely people will do whatever they can to stay out. There is big difference between spending 2 years doing some manual labor, having bad bed and bad food or being gang raped. And the lesion is not, no to do crime like you and I would hope, but to kill/intimidate witnesses etc.
- lazyasciiart 4y ago
  As captured in the saying "might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb". (https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Badness/One_might_as_well_be_hanged_for_a_sheep_as_for_a_lamb_839.php https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Badness/...)
girvo 4y ago
> there is always risk/reward calculation. You have not been around criminals much, and it shows. That’s really not how all of this works, and you’re applying logic to something that offenders themselves often don’t. If they did, the USAs horrific prison system would work. But it doesn’t.

there is always risk/reward calculation. if you replace prison time with home arrest, then you remove downside to being caught. Especially for second/Nth time offenders.

BoorishBears 4y ago

If you're good with risk/reward you generally don't do crime (at least, not the kind that doesn't already leave you in the kind of minimum security-style prison being proposed here). In 2015 the average robbery netted less than $2,000 while the average sentence length was almost 10 years. Risking 10 years of your life for $2,000 isn't something that people who understand risk/reward will do, how bad things are while you spend those 10 years is basically a rounding error compared to just how terrible of an idea it already is.

smegger001 4y ago
if the cost to imprison someone is far larger than damages done maybe it would be cheaper for the tax payer to just make the victim whole and give the criminal a lesser sentence.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  There are a large number of crimes for which money can not make the victim whole.
- jsmith99 4y ago
  The damage done is far greater than the gain to the thief.

unionpivo 4y ago

People often think that's the case, because it kind of makes sense. But real world data suggest it doesn't work that way. In fact you are generally just making your problems worse. First and biggest problem is, that it turns small time crooks into hardcore criminals, because that's the only way to survive on the inside. So unless you never plan on releasing anyone out of prison, having bad prisons is not great idea. Second If prisons are so bad, it makes it more likely people will do whatever they can to stay out. There is big difference between spending 2 years doing some manual labor, having bad bed and bad food or being gang raped. And the lesion is not, no to do crime like you and I would hope, but to kill/intimidate witnesses etc.

lazyasciiart 4y ago
As captured in the saying "might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb". (https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Badness/One_might_as_well_be_hanged_for_a_sheep_as_for_a_lamb_839.php https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Badness/...)

girvo 4y ago

> there is always risk/reward calculation. You have not been around criminals much, and it shows. That’s really not how all of this works, and you’re applying logic to something that offenders themselves often don’t. If they did, the USAs horrific prison system would work. But it doesn’t.