Prison anyone?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Maybe we should just give criminals a big hug and try to understand their motivation. Yeah, that'll prevent crime.

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by Idunn

It might be suggested that having even one person incarcerated is a regrettable failure, to lead the world in this the troubling sign of a very unbalanced society.

Those welcoming such things might question what is in their heart, and what their humanity is constituted of.

Geez, I think I'm gonna hurl.

There have been criminals since the dawn of time, and from a historical perspective, we're pretty lenient in how we deal with them today.

I have some friends that ran sort of a foster-parent halfway house--they took in troubled adolescent kids of various ages and tried to love 'em over to the good path. It was an unqualified disaster that repeatedly put them and their family into harm's way. They'd tell you from several years of experience that there is evil in this world walking on two legs, and all the love and touchy-feely caring won't stop a bad one from trying to find your credit cards or some time alone with your toddler when you're not looking.

I welcome incarceration of predators as a preferable alternative to playing the role of their prey. The regrettable failure is when we fail to identify and isolate the predator before he/she pounces, or worse, when we do identify one and let them feast again.

I can't remember who said it, but I like this quote: "a conservative is a liberal that's been mugged." Idunn, you need to spend some time among the criminal element. For that I suggest you head to Denver this August.

[Dorthy]

It's scary to think that most of the people entering prison will get out at some point. Prison does nothing to make them change for the better.

Violent offenders: lock them up
Sexual predators: lock them up
Drug offenders: fines, rehab
Property Crimes: restitution, community service, fines.
White collar crime: restitution, probation, fines.
DUI: loss of license, community service.

These are just some examples. A one size fits all approach is pointless in my opinion. It causes more harm then good. It's also more expensive to lock someone up.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by yodi

It's scary to think that most of the people entering prison will get out at some point. Prison does nothing to make them change for the better.

Violent offenders: lock them up
Sexual predators: lock them up
Drug offenders: fines, rehab
Property Crimes: restitution, community service, fines.
White collar crime: restitution, probation, fines.
DUI: loss of license, community service.

These are just some examples. A one size fits all approach is pointless in my opinion. It causes more harm then good. It's also more expensive to lock someone up.

Isn't this pretty much what is happening now?

[EdatGenesis]

What is your point? It's really very simple .. Do the crime, do the time

Perhaps if people weren't stupid enough to be criminals, our prisons wouldn't be so over crowed?

Personally, I'm glad they are locked up as opposed to walking freely amongst law abiding people

[Katarina Witt]

In my daughter's college town, students who violated alcohol laws and got caught by the local police (a small percentage, mind you), frequently spent a night in jail. I do not think this is a bad thing. It's a good object lesson. I consign a special place in hell for DUI offenders who kill people. I'm not an advocate of long prison sentences for alcohol offeneses, but it does hit home a little more than delivering Meals on Wheels or whatever.

[jb_nacda]

Idunn...It would be great to put all those defective genetic codes in your backyard so they could sing Kum-by-Yah while holding hands, but I don't think that would last very long. Soon as they saw your possessions and stole them, then saw your wife and daughter and raped them, suddenly your rosey glasses might just slip off that long elitest nose you look down to the rest off us. Having been a prosecutor for a number of years I can tell you, some people are just wired wrong and need work...Besides, prisons are job security for good honest folk )

[jazzlover]

Many on this forum might consider me a some neo-liberal wacko (which I'm not) on some issues, but on this subject I'm a staunch conservative. Personally, I think that any person convicted of a felony should be required to undergo immediate and non-reversible sterilization as part of their sentence. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is a convicted felon probably isn't fit to be a parent, either. For some, especially some of the "macho" types, that might be a strong disincentive for criminal behavior. It might also stem some of the criminal behavior that seems to go generation after generation in some families. I would also extend that requirement to minors convicted of adult-type crimes. To those who say this would be "cruel and unusual punishment," I would note that we regularly suspend or end certain rights otherwise considered "sacred"--the right to vote, for example--to those convicted of felonies.

By the way, when I was in public service, we would regularly have Colorado DOC inmate crews working in or around my workplace. In that controlled environment, they could actually be fairly productive and civil, but there was no doubt that the hardened criminals among them--and that was probably 2/3's--would be back at their criminal ways within days of their release, no matter what kind of "rehabilitation" they received. As others have said, once those people reach that point in their lives, a lot of them simply are not going to be saved.

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Personally, I think that any person convicted of a felony should be required to undergo immediate and non-reversible sterilization as part of their sentence.

There's no way you could get that past the courts, but it wouldn't be too hard to get public support for bribing felons to get sterilized. If you gave them five years off their sentence, it would be enough to convince the vast majority of people to get fixed.

[COflower]

I am not touching this with a 100 foot pole...nope. I could ramble on about my libertarian beliefs and I don't want to get into that here. Some societal things I will get into, some taxes issues, politics...if you know anything about libertianism, read up.

:-)