My opinion is that prison shouldn't be used as a punishment, but only as a way of keeping people who demonstrate that they're unable to behave in a socially positive way (or at least a socially neutral way) apart from the rest of us.
There's solid research that shows that locking people up alone doesn't make them less likely to commit further crimes when they're released, but rather increases the likelihood of that. There are individual exceptions, of course, and some do people see the light and alter their approach to life after a spell behind bars. For the majority, though, prison allows convicted prisoners to improve their criminal skills, widens their criminal networks, and sucks them deeper into the underbelly of society.
Unfortunately, positive interventions in the lives of those who have either been convicted of a crime or are heading that way are challenging, expensive, and don't always succeed. They also don't gratify people's need to see wrongdoers punished, so funding such programmes is a hard-sell for politicians.
When my brother was imprisoned for petty crime it did him much more harm than good. It introduced him to a lot of more hardened criminals who he stayed connected with when he got out, it made it almost impossible for him to find employment which meant he saw further law breaking as the only way of making money, and he also developed a drug habit inside which he ended up committing more crimes to fund when he got out. Apparently sneaking class A drugs into prison is very easy and half the inmates are off their faces for most of their sentence.
I know he shouldn't have broken the law in the first place and I'm not trying to garner sympathy for him - I'm just pointing out that prison absolutely made the situation worse. It just turned him from a stupid teenager who made some bad decisions into a hardened criminal with no reason not to commit more crimes.
I've never understood why some people choose to become prison officers. It seems to me that it's one of those jobs (being a politician is another) where a desire to do the job should automatically disqualify you from ever holding the position. That's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but what I mean is that if you feel a deep attraction to the idea of controlling other people and bossing them around, you're exactly the wrong person to be put in a position where you can do that.
The idea of businesses running prisons is truly perverse. Locking people up is a necessary evil because there are those in the world who wish to do others harm. Prisons should be something that the state provides as part of its role of protecting the well-being of citizens as a whole, not a means for companies to pare costs to the bone and make a good return for shareholders.
Is it normal that I feel empathy for criminals?
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My opinion is that prison shouldn't be used as a punishment, but only as a way of keeping people who demonstrate that they're unable to behave in a socially positive way (or at least a socially neutral way) apart from the rest of us.
There's solid research that shows that locking people up alone doesn't make them less likely to commit further crimes when they're released, but rather increases the likelihood of that. There are individual exceptions, of course, and some do people see the light and alter their approach to life after a spell behind bars. For the majority, though, prison allows convicted prisoners to improve their criminal skills, widens their criminal networks, and sucks them deeper into the underbelly of society.
Unfortunately, positive interventions in the lives of those who have either been convicted of a crime or are heading that way are challenging, expensive, and don't always succeed. They also don't gratify people's need to see wrongdoers punished, so funding such programmes is a hard-sell for politicians.
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SwickDinging
4 years ago
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When my brother was imprisoned for petty crime it did him much more harm than good. It introduced him to a lot of more hardened criminals who he stayed connected with when he got out, it made it almost impossible for him to find employment which meant he saw further law breaking as the only way of making money, and he also developed a drug habit inside which he ended up committing more crimes to fund when he got out. Apparently sneaking class A drugs into prison is very easy and half the inmates are off their faces for most of their sentence.
I know he shouldn't have broken the law in the first place and I'm not trying to garner sympathy for him - I'm just pointing out that prison absolutely made the situation worse. It just turned him from a stupid teenager who made some bad decisions into a hardened criminal with no reason not to commit more crimes.
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[Old Memory]
4 years ago
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Jail is kind of like job network agencies... They don't help and the employees there make money off the hardship of others.
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Boojum
4 years ago
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Darkly amusing parallel.
I've never understood why some people choose to become prison officers. It seems to me that it's one of those jobs (being a politician is another) where a desire to do the job should automatically disqualify you from ever holding the position. That's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but what I mean is that if you feel a deep attraction to the idea of controlling other people and bossing them around, you're exactly the wrong person to be put in a position where you can do that.
The idea of businesses running prisons is truly perverse. Locking people up is a necessary evil because there are those in the world who wish to do others harm. Prisons should be something that the state provides as part of its role of protecting the well-being of citizens as a whole, not a means for companies to pare costs to the bone and make a good return for shareholders.
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curious-bunny
4 years ago
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[Old Memory]
4 years ago
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Most do it simply for the money and for enjoying security work. Few actually do it cause they control people
I agree