Comment by Ekaros 4 days ago
So why we are even using it anymore? Why not then close down all the prisons? If there is no deterrent effect or rehabilitation effect. Wouldn't it be greater savings just to close it all down and let everyone out?
It's more complicated than this.
I agree that prisons are literally useless in stopping criminal behavior, and almost certainly accelerate it for most. Prison is only scary the first day on your first bit. The second time you get locked up you already know the system, know all the staff and know all the other inmates. It's less of a deterrent each time.
The issue is that a vast proportion of offenders aren't committing crimes out of necessity. A large proportion are doing it because it appears to be quick, easy money and regular jobs aren't considered manly or cool.
source: a lot of time spent inside
>prisons are literally useless in stopping criminal behavior
"Con College" — where you learn tricks of the trade, and further divide with racism / hatred.
>stealing ... [because] regular jobs aren't considered manly or cool.
This, but also too many lazier-mindset people think this will be an easy lifestyle to sustain long-term (it's not).
So if I report less income, prices for me go down and no penalty if I get caught.
This is only a half-response, but I think one beneficial policy to increase food-access would be to remove regressive sales taxes from grocery purchases. Replace lost revenue with a progressive tax.
Several states tax a considerable amount on even basic foodstuffs (e.g. Tennessee).
It seems like would require every business to be able to directly access every customer's income and credit history and would normalize price discrimination.
I think UBI would be better. Expecting capitalists to work against their own self-interest is doomed to fail.
No. When you look at it that way you need to consider the crime that's never committed due to the risk of being imprisoned poses. Given how shitty people in the US treat each other, just during minor disputes/traffic/misunderstandings/etc, I think it's safe to say we'd be a country overrun by murderous rapists in no time without a prison system. It would devolve into anarchy pretty quick. Think the wild west with cars and ARs and without the sheriffs. GTA becomes reality.
Doubly so since the 13th amendment enshrined slavery as a sole ownership by the state, if found guilty of a crime.
And who's the group who is overpoliced in this country? And who up-thread said to target black women? Yep.
The 13th amendment was terrible. It should have never had an exception for punishment for a crime. Instead, we have a states controlled slave state.
The USA should do, perhaps, four fifths of that. Despite having 4% of the world's population it has 25% of the world's prisoners, and one of the highest crime rates in first-world countries so it'd obviously not working.
They could also consider banning substances that make people more aggressive... There's a particular artificial pesticide whose name I don't remember, which is coincidentally banned in all the places with much lower crime rates, and has been shown to alter behaviour in monkeys.
People don't need "rehabilitation", they need help. Nobody would need to shoplift if they could afford what they need. Prices should always be indexed to the customer's income. That's it - make it so everyone can afford things, and crime ends overnight. It works for healthcare. People with insurance pay for those without. Why not for groceries and TVs?