[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Should prisons... (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/25/2014 2:36:03 PM EDT
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focus more on reform or punishment?
Do you think criminals can be reformed? Do you think morality can be learned and understood by criminals? or Do you think punishment can curb criminal behavior? Do you think fear can be used to stop criminal activity? Just curious what you guys think. I'm kind of on the fence with this. 
I might add a poll Poll added |
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As much as I would like to rant and say prisons don't reform.....Ive worked with enough guys that got out and were scared straight to know that at least sometimes it works...
Would probably work better if it were all of one or all of the other instead of the crapfarm that you see currently. |
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This. Most criminals hate work. The fear of being put to hard labor shoud be enough to keep them from doing stupid things. |
| This has been debated for centuries. What cures criminal behavior is age. Crime, at least violent crime, is primarily a young man's game. As people age they decide things that used to piss them off just don't matter as much. Going in and out of the system gets tiresome. |
| It depends on the crime and the person. If it's the first time criminal and it's a low grade crime (to be determined at prosecution and sentencing) then a reform based sentence should be considered. For a first time high grade/capital crime then it's big rocks to small rocks time. A career criminal who has had an opportunity to fix themselves but has chosen not to, big rocks to little rocks time with execution as a possibility. |
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It is rare imo that doing time will scare someone straight. In our justice system you really have to keep fuckin up, fuck up GOOD, or have a offical with a vendetta to serve any appreciable time. Yes there are some 'wrong place wrong time' folks that catch a raw deal and doing time will put em on the straight and narrow but to the majority prison means nothing to them, and in alot of cases furthers their criminality. "Fixing" the system is not a simple matter, because it would take steps both in government and in society that frankly I dont see happening in our current political and social climate.
When I read presentence investigations where the shitstack has a record going years and years back and he ends up getting nothing for a sentence then turn around and read another PSI where joe blow just made a simple mistake and damn near gets put under the jail then it is clear we have fundamental issues with our system. |
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I worked with many convicts in Corrections for 25 years.
I don't think that incarceration "reforms" people. They usually simply decide that they want to live differently, and change. You can't manipulate, or change people unless you know what they want. Once you figure what they REALLY want, then that can be used to manipulate behavior. For many convicts, jail is easier than living on the outside, so why would anyone expect them to "reform"? Incarceration deters many people from crime. However, there are other people who aren't deterred, or they think they won't get caught so they take their chances. Most of us learned by second grade that you don't steal things, shouldn't hit other people and so on. So criminals know what they intend to do is wrong. They just decide to risk getting caught and convicted. The odds are surprisingly in favor of the criminals. By the time you figure in the chance that the police won't catch them in the first place, then that they won't be convicted, (rather than a plea deal, or beating the charge), and finally the chance that they will more likely get house arrest or probation rather than society spending the money to incarcerate them, the odds are pretty good that criminals will not go to jail. |
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Its amazing how reformed you find yourself when you have done manual labor for 8hrs a day 6 days a week. Focusing on reformation means you don't want to make them uncomfortable....they are just going to reform school and counseling. FUCK That! I worked State Convict Road Force camps for many a year and the hard work (it was damn hard work) did not seem to make a difference. I don't know how many convicts I saw come back to the same camp they were discharged from in less than a year. I swear I think some were glad to be back.
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Reform. You can't really "punish" someone over a period of several years without dehumanizing them and making them a worse person. Really the best you can expect out of prison is to keep them away from the population for a few years. But might as well at least try to reform them during that period. |
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reform or punishment manual labor is ok but I'd be good with just locking them away. Quoted:
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NO! To what? reform or punishment manual labor is ok but I'd be good with just locking them away. I don't see locking them up doing anything but wasting taxpayer money. Why not try and do something constructive while you have them? |
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Quoted: Why not try and do something constructive while you have them? |
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Because the state cannot be trusted with that kind of power. When you create an economic incentive for more prisons, the state seems to find more prisoners. That's why we did away with the chain gangs the first time around. Same thing is happening with the privatized prisons. There was that horrid case a few years ago with judges in Pennsylvania sentencing thousands of innocent children to juvie because they were getting kickbacks. Quoted:
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Why not try and do something constructive while you have them? I could see corruption being an argument against manual labor/revenue generating punishment. |
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Criminals should actually just be punished. There would be much less crime. There would be no activities whatsoever in my prison, no visits, no weights, games, tv, fucking nothing! If you want to eat, grow it fucker, and if you don't like it then stay out of trouble. PERIOD. Oh yeah, capital punishment cases have a separate courthouse, the case must not be based solely on circumstantial evidence, if found guilty they die right there in the chair they sit it. Bring in the next perp and sit him or her in the mess...... |
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This post wins. We are paying to house these fuck-ups, we should be getting our money's worth. 
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This post wins. We are paying to house these fuck-ups, we should be getting our money's worth. Quoted:
This post wins. We are paying to house these fuck-ups, we should be getting our money's worth. Yea, and fuck all the private enterprise that has to compete with slave labor! |
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I served 10 days for reckless driving a few years ago.
While the punishment was bullshit IMO (Virginia  ), common sense now sits bitch every time I drive. Had I got a slap on the wrist, who knows.
Fun factoid...the officer was a cool cat. Professional, friendly (all things considered), and spot on accurate in predicting the sentence  .
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