Re: OT - I may be in the minority


Karen C. wrote:
Eliyahu wrote:
The theory of general deterrence has also been throughly discredited.
We are already the only western nation whose jails and prisons don't
meet the UN standards for prisons, one of only a few democracies to
retain the death penalty, we have the highest per-capita rate of


I think the other successful countries have stricter enforcement
of their laws.


Murderers have the lowest recidivism rate of all crimes. It's
generally a "once in a lifetime" thing brought on by the circumstances
of the crime and isn't likely to be repeated.


I don't think we should be soft on them because they "probably"
won't do it again, though.


our prisoners aren't in there for rape or murder. They're in prison for
drug possession, thefts, domestic assaults and similar stuff. . . .


You've just described some of my sisters' ex-husbands and current
boyfriends, as well as a few nephews and cousins. I'm all too
familiar with the type--and I don't care to associate with them.
I hate the fact that they go in and out of jails as if they
were motels that provide meals. Jail time obviously isn't much
of a deterrent for them.


There's a reason that we're currently
spending far more on prisons than we are on education in the US, and
it's because we think that we'll be safe if we can only lock up enough
people.


At least while they're locked up, they can't break as many laws
during the time they're incarcerated.

That's called "specific deterrence" (as opposed to the general
deterrence you've advocated earlier). Since we do virtually nothing in
the way of rehabilitative programming in our jails and prisons, it
generally translates into doing a life sentence in installments. I
suppose we could eliminate recidivism by following the North Korean
model and imposing life sentences and/or death penalties for just about
all crimes. It's made NK a relatively crime-free country where the
only thing the people have to fear is the State. It would also fit
perfectly with the current Christian doctrine of "no forgiveness, no
redemption, and punish as hard as possible." By coincidence, that's
also the Islamic philosophy... strict justice without mercy.

Eliyahu

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