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?
>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.
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