4 ms·

I think there's (pychological?) research suggesting that the prospect of life in prison is a stronger crime deterrent than the death penalty (and hence that it

by pflanze 13y ago

I think there's (pychological?) research suggesting that the prospect of life in prison is a stronger crime deterrent than the death penalty (and hence that it makes sense for countries not to have the death penalty for preventative reasons). I haven't seen that research myself though, I'd welcome pointers. But it would match your sentiment.

mnw21cam 13y ago
Prison has three purposes. These are deterrent, rehabilitation, and protection of public. In the UK, it has been recognised that the deterrent part of prison is actually quite weak. It is not effective for crimes of the moment, where the perpetrator is not thinking clearly. It is also not very effective for career criminals, because the proportion of crimes that are actually caught, prosecuted, convicted, and attract a sufficient sentence is quite low, and many criminals do not believe they will be caught. It is also not effective for those who commit crimes out of desperation, for instance to fuel a drug habit. That leaves rehabilitation and protection of public. Truly dangerous criminals are sentenced to life for the protection of public. In terms of rehabilitation, officials regularly promise that this aspect will be made more effective, but there are very few prison schemes that actually improve the long-term behaviour of a criminal. Likewise, drug treatment often takes longer than the prison sentence that the typical drug user is given. The magistrate's blog at http://magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ http://magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ has regular grumblings about this. In the UK, some prisoners are effectively sentenced to prison for a certain time, but must show that they have attended a treatment programme before being released. There was some trouble recently when some prisoners complained that they had not been given the opportunity during their fixed sentence to attend such a programme. So, of the three effects of prison, deterrence in the UK is seen as the least useful.
- pflanze 13y ago
  Do you have references about the deterrence aspect or the relative usefulness? Are these public beliefs or scientific analyses or projections? The UK seems to have some odd relation to crime. Ubiquitous surveillance and fencing of just about anything (schools etc.) seem to hint that crime is believed to be everywhere or expected, daily TV broadcasts of police-vs-crime shows seem to indicate or enforce a public (morbid?) fascination for it. Perhaps it's a belief thing (similar to religions?) where one feels the need to feed oneself cues that one belongs to the positive part of society and not to the criminals so as not to feel bad? I don't know whether I'm understanding things right, but I'm also not confident that in such a setting public opinion about these matters represents truth. (I'm a Swiss guy living in the UK, and comparing to Canada and my home country.)

by pflanze 13y ago

mnw21cam 13y ago

Prison has three purposes. These are deterrent, rehabilitation, and protection of public. In the UK, it has been recognised that the deterrent part of prison is actually quite weak. It is not effective for crimes of the moment, where the perpetrator is not thinking clearly. It is also not very effective for career criminals, because the proportion of crimes that are actually caught, prosecuted, convicted, and attract a sufficient sentence is quite low, and many criminals do not believe they will be caught. It is also not effective for those who commit crimes out of desperation, for instance to fuel a drug habit. That leaves rehabilitation and protection of public. Truly dangerous criminals are sentenced to life for the protection of public. In terms of rehabilitation, officials regularly promise that this aspect will be made more effective, but there are very few prison schemes that actually improve the long-term behaviour of a criminal. Likewise, drug treatment often takes longer than the prison sentence that the typical drug user is given. The magistrate's blog at http://magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ http://magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ has regular grumblings about this. In the UK, some prisoners are effectively sentenced to prison for a certain time, but must show that they have attended a treatment programme before being released. There was some trouble recently when some prisoners complained that they had not been given the opportunity during their fixed sentence to attend such a programme. So, of the three effects of prison, deterrence in the UK is seen as the least useful.

pflanze 13y ago
Do you have references about the deterrence aspect or the relative usefulness? Are these public beliefs or scientific analyses or projections? The UK seems to have some odd relation to crime. Ubiquitous surveillance and fencing of just about anything (schools etc.) seem to hint that crime is believed to be everywhere or expected, daily TV broadcasts of police-vs-crime shows seem to indicate or enforce a public (morbid?) fascination for it. Perhaps it's a belief thing (similar to religions?) where one feels the need to feed oneself cues that one belongs to the positive part of society and not to the criminals so as not to feel bad? I don't know whether I'm understanding things right, but I'm also not confident that in such a setting public opinion about these matters represents truth. (I'm a Swiss guy living in the UK, and comparing to Canada and my home country.)