Is prison the answer, or is it an antiquated response to a complex problem that needs far more complex and diverse solutions?

To interact with this page you must login. Signup

ask a person to answer this question Ask to answer

...and if our society is judged by how we treat our criminals, what does that say about us?

crime

ethics

society

understand

tynamite

Britain and America have completely different legal systems and attitudes to punishment.

The British legal system puts an emphasis on reconciliation. It tries to ensure that criminals do not break the law again, once they are locked up.

The American legal system puts an emphasis on punishment. It tries to ensure that criminals are given the maximum sentences for the most serious of crimes.

You can see this emphasis in Britain, by looking at the youth "prisons", ASBO, youth clubs for deprived kids, and other programs that the government puts on to deter criminals from doing further crimes.

You can see this emphasis in America, where murderers and rapists are given life inprisonment, solitary confinement, and the death penalty. Capital punishment and solitary confinement is seen as controversial. Also because of the ever-increasing punishments for rape and paedophilia which are starting to emerge out of prison for ex-convicts where districts are prohibited for sex offenders. Punishing ex-convicts after they have served their sentence and banishing them to live under a bridge or a specified area is controversial. Also because of the controversial Three Strikes law where people have been given life inprisonment for drink-driving and stealing a slice of pizza.

If locking up a murderer for maximum of 5 years was scientifically proven to make him murder less on release, and locking up a thief for a minimum 50 years was scientifically proven to make him murder less, Britain would keep the prison sentences, but America would refuse to implement the prison sentences.

So what are the causes of the increasing punishments under American law which are spiraling out of proportion?

Legislators who are elected, want to prove that they are "hard on crime", hence how they get elected. So by increasing prison sentences and more recently post-prison sentences, they win the support of the public. Supporting a false flag using the "shock doctrine" strategy is the easiest way to get elected. Much more Americans are in favour of capital punishment than us British people are, so you could argue that the politicians are only satisfying the demands of their citizens in order to stay in power.

-----------------

Statistics show that murder rates in America are just as much in proportion, as they are in Britain, which makes capital punishment not a deterrent.

Human experiments or trials have shown that providing reconciliation to prisoners who have ended their prison sentence, dramatically reduces their chances of reoffending.

And there you have it!