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Without prison, most would argue, we could not punish past crimes, deter future crimes, or keep dangerous criminals safely separate from the rest of society. Scholars of law and economics have generally held the same view, treating prison as an indispensable tool for minimizing social harm. But the prevailing view is wrong. Employing the tools of economic analysis, this Article demonstrates that prison imposes enormous but well-hidden societal losses. It is therefore a deeply inefficient device for serving the utilitarian aims of the criminal law system — namely, optimally deterring bad social actors while minimizing total social costs.
It goes into a 59 page paper studying the issue.
Punishment sounds good, especially economically - but how do you force non-compliance?
A worthless generalization.......maybe they go into more detail but I'm hardly going to bother when they start off this way.
Someone that did bother can explain if they want. The argument is we should fine someone like Manson as opposed to put him in prison?
If you want to argue that it is better to do this in certain examples, say insider trading, I would agree but to start off with some vast generalization causes me to not even consider the argument.
Reload this Page What Is Your Preference For Those Who Commit Crimes - Imprisonment or Punishment?
Imprisonment is punishment.
No it's not... you can incur a fine or be assigned to perform a service related to the crime, or both, or forced rehab... house arrest - which is prison without the huge societal bill.
No it's not... you can incur a fine or be assigned to perform a service related to the crime, or both, or forced rehab... house arrest - which is prison without the huge societal bill.
Jeffery Dahmer would have done well with community service............ Did he even have any money to speak about to fine him? Rehab.......there are places that specialize in rehabbing mass murderers? Would you have allowed him to be under house arrest in your neighborhood?
No it's not... you can incur a fine or be assigned to perform a service related to the crime, or both, or forced rehab... house arrest - which is prison without the huge societal bill.
I certainly have learned something today. Serving time in a prison is not punishment. Damn! Sure could have fooled me. Perhaps you should tell the inmates that. They seem to be under a different opinion.
Last edited by Scotty011; 04-24-2017 at 07:32 PM..
I'd rather rehabilitation, in order to give that person another chance. If they mess up again, imprisonment is the only remaining option. Obviously this only applies for non violent crimes.
Jails need to strike an adequate balance of deterrence, punishment, and rehabilitation.
Whenever one of these is not balanced you have problems. For example, too much punishment and not enough rehabilitation will lead to repeat offenders. As a society we don't want that.
Too much rehab and not enough punishment will not effectively deter people, which leads to more crime.
I think it was back during the time of common law...restitution for the victim used to be emphasized over punishment for the criminal. Obviously there need to be deterrents to prevent crime, but I think it sometimes becomes a "getting back at the bad guy" situation instead of making the victims whole again.
Keep in mind, the US has the highest re-incarceration rate in the world. Norway on the other hand has the lowest, and they almost exclusively do rehabilitation.
Like everything else in this country, America is a failure when it comes to dealing with crime.
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They seem to be under a different opinion.
