4 ms·

The purpose of prisons is threefold: First incapacitation - that is at a minimum preventing incarcerated people from continuing their criminal behavior; Second,

• qznc 4y ago
  If rehabilitation were a goal, the US could learn a lot from other countries how to do that. I don’t see that happening though. So I conclude the system has other more important goals. The usual complaint about rehabilitation methods seems to be that they compromise the deterrence or retribution aspects.
  • HWR_14 4y ago
    > So I conclude the system has other more important goals. I think you are confusing "this system is bad at achieving its goals" and "this system has other goals". The goals of the prison system are really hard. Rehabilitating people is really hard.
• ROTMetro 4y ago
  No, rehabilitiation is explicitly NOT part of prison. Stop spreading that myth. From Federal Title 18 §3582. Imposition of a sentence of imprisonment: "recognizing that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation"
  • JackFr 4y ago
    And yet 18 U.S. Code § 3553 - Imposition of a sentence (referenced by 3582) says: the need for the sentence imposed— (A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense; (B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct; (C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and (D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner; D sounds a lot like rehabilitation to me.
    • ROTMetro 4y ago
      3553 is about sentencing. Sentencing includes all sentencing only one part of which is prison. Section 3553 D give authority to a judge to sentence to things like residential drug treatment programs, or giving a term of supervised release after prison. Title 18 §3582 is the statute a judge is required to follow when imposing prison as part of a sentence, and it EXCLUDES BY STATUTE a judge considering rehabilitation when imposing a prison sentence. I show the exact statue that makes it ILLEGAL for a judge to do what you claim, and you repost your incorrect misreading of 3553, and then Hacker News tells me to slow down and prevents me from posting a response for hours.
      • JackFr 4y ago
        Ok - IANAL - I’ll take your word for it that I misunderstand the statute.
        • ROTMetro 4y ago
          There is no need to take my word, it's the law. Read the statues. Or, there are tons of cases (which is then settled case law) on this very subject. Funny you care enough to post false information to shape a narrative of your choosing but not enough to educate yourself on the subject.
          • JackFr 4y ago
            > Funny you care enough to post false information to shape a narrative of your choosing but not enough to educate yourself on the subject. I think that was uncalled for. I am not “posting false information to shape a narrative”. I was wrong about my understanding of the statute because as you pointed out my understanding of “sentencing” was incorrect. You might take “you’re right” with a little more grace. (You also might look into state systems. Texas runs the second largest prison system in the US. They explicitly cite rehabilitation as a role for prisons.)
            • ROTMetro 4y ago
• tejohnso 4y ago
  And I think the punishment part has two aspects to it. Deterrence being one, and preventing vigilantism being the second. In cases where someone is wronged, they want to see the perpetrator punished and feel like they are getting what they deserve. It's not enough to have the perpetrator punished quietly. The victim wants to know it. And they want to feel as though it matches or surpasses their suffering. Eye for an eye.