He's not being treated inhumanely, he's being punished for repeatedly trying to skirt the system. You put people in jail who break the rules of society. You put people in isolation who break the rules of the prison system. He can "fight the system" all he wants but I don't see any reason to shed tears over it each time he gets caught and punished. He's an adult acting like a child getting punished like an adult.
> Is it really worth the cost of imprisoning people for non-violent crimes?
Are you suggesting they should go unpunished?
> It doesn't appear to deter people from committing crimes.
The suggestion that the threat of imprisonment does not act as a deterrent to criminal activity is absurd.
> It certainly doesn't help criminals rehabilitate and become productive members of society.
Do you really not see "I'm here because I screwed up. I probably should try to not screw up in the future." going through the mind of prisoners as they sit in their cells?
It is odd that you go from "don't imprison non-violent offenders" straight to "don't punish non violent offenders".
There's a bunch of stuff that we can do that is cheaper than prison, and better at stopping people from committing more crime. Restorative justice programmes are pretty good.
> The suggestion that the threat of imprisonment does not act as a deterrent to criminal activity is absurd.
Why are you not a thief? Is it because you're afraid of prison, or is it because you know that stealing is wrong?
The rate of recidivism is pretty high, the US imprisons so many people yet still has crime.
> Do you really not see "I'm here because I screwed up. I probably should try to not screw up in the future." going through the mind of prisoners as they sit in their cells?
But it doesn't. Really, it doesn't. People pass the blame onto others. Prisoners may well think "I screwed up by getting caught. I probably should try harder not to get caught in future".
Not to mention that a large factor in crime is an (apparent) lack of legitimate avenues to find work. Just the fact that one has set foot in a prison eliminates the vast majority of potential career paths. If our goal is to reduce crime rates, jailing anyone and everyone is the exact opposite of what we need to do.
Well I'm with you on the restorative justice philosophy.
I am a thief. I relentless pirate movies, television shows, and music. I do so because I know my chances of getting caught are next to zero.
I'm sure there are some who think that way and by the numbers hobs references it's probably a large number. Maybe a restorative justice based system could change this? Either way, I don't feel like using weev as the poster-child for the restorative justice agenda.
>Are you suggesting they should go unpunished?
I believe he is suggesting there are other methods which are more effective, less costly, and meet current societal goals. Remember that prison is partly about punishment, but to society, we just want productive people who do stuff that falls into the category of pro-social behaviors.
>The suggestion that the threat of imprisonment does not act as a deterrent to criminal activity is absurd.
I think that this point cannot really be proven anyway, so I will let it lie.
>Do you really not see "I'm here because I screwed up. I probably should try to not screw up in the future." going through the mind of prisoners as they sit in their cells?
Maybe? Who cares? The actual thing I am interested in is recidivism, and according to pew:
About 43 percent of prisoners who were let out in 2004 were sent back to prison by 2007, either for a new crime or violating the conditions of their release, the study found. That number was down from 45 percent during a similar period beginning in 1999.
So we are sitting at 43% re-offend AFTER going to prison... looks like our system works!
I can agree with you that maybe a restorative justice-based system would work better. It would be interesting to see how that worked in practice. I've always thought the prison system was too easy and that prisoners should be put to work in factories and farms. However, I don't feel like using weev as the poster-child for the restorative justice agenda.
