Jump to content

Prison and sentencing that works


Criminal punishment  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. Criminal punishment

    • Prisons should be improved
    • Prisons should be harder
    • Sentences should send more people to prison
    • Sentences should keep more people in the community


Recommended Posts

That's a good question and as I already said I don't have a decent answer, but I will give it a go.

 

From what I know of rehabilitation it begins with understanding the problem that you have and / or are causing.

 

Once that's appreciated you can work on methods to eliminate that destructive behaviour.

 

You then gradually try them out in the wild before making the move back into regular life.

 

A support system remains in the background in case you need help to stop the slide back into destructive behavior.

 

 

 

Does that sound like a reasonable framework to get the conversation going? It sounds better than a dayglo humiliation jacket and your name in the paper to me.

 

What about the old lags that don't want to change and have no intention of doing so? They know exactly what problems they are causing..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the old lags that don't want to change and have no intention of doing so? They know exactly what problems they are causing..

It's a fair point and I didn't say to get rid of lock up prisons altogether, but before we write them off I think we should give those old lags a shot at redemption.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a good question and as I already said I don't have a decent answer, but I will give it a go.

 

From what I know of rehabilitation it begins with understanding the problem that you have and / or are causing.

 

Once that's appreciated you can work on methods to eliminate that destructive behaviour.

 

You then gradually try them out in the wild before making the move back into regular life.

 

A support system remains in the background in case you need help to stop the slide back into destructive behavior.

 

 

 

Does that sound like a reasonable framework to get the conversation going? It sounds better than a dayglo humiliation jacket and your name in the local paper.

 

A lot of prisoners have mental health and/or drug issues. Both of those services that could help have been cut to the quick. A reverse in that would be a start.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of prisoners have mental health and/or drug issues. Both of those services that could help have been cut to the quick. A reverse in that would be a start.

 

I agree with you and I have been a victim of crime on a couple of occasions where that might have prevented the crime happening. On both occasions the criminal had just come out of a lock up prison where they had supposedly been cleaned up.

 

As somebody cleverer than me once said, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of prisoners have mental health and/or drug issues. Both of those services that could help have been cut to the quick. A reverse in that would be a start.

 

If you think of the lack of funds available for mental health issues outside of the judicial system then the penal system is going to be low on the agenda.

 

This governments proposal has been attempted by all governments in one form or other, yet we still have the same poor results, and no doubt will do in the future. Political rhetoric I'm afraid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you think about about it, a lot of the proceeds of petty crime ends up going into the drug dealers pockets. So if the state could offer addicts good quality drugs in a controlled manner then we may be able to wipe a massive proportion of this crime out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's unbeatable when it comes to preventing re-offending though.

 

Indeed it is. However, the costs are insane unless we are going to summarily execute people without due diligence. Was reading that the costs in the US are 10 times more to execute someone than to keep them locked up for the rest of their lives. It's mainly to do with, ironically, stopping them being killed by other inmate or committing suicide so they are kept in solitary with 24 hour suicide watch, add on to that the cost of numerous appeals and you end up with a VERY expensive way to deal with something. And crime rates increased in states when they re-introduced the death penalty, although correlation may not mean causality!

 

---------- Post added 10-02-2016 at 15:12 ----------

 

Apparently you are going to execute all criminals. God help anyone with speeding points.

 

I'd have been executed twice. Balls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm happy to try proper community rehabilitation until the point it's a waste of time. Three (or five if you want) strikes and your out (or rather in) for serious time.

 

There are burglars who have been in and out for years who have no appetite to change.

 

Simply because jail as it is to-day is no deterrent, more like a one star hotel for the law breakers - a holiday if you like.

 

Angel1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.