Difference between revisions of "2009-05-31 Why do people persist in voting Republican/woozle/2009"
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(→Tabula Rasa: response... wanted to find more references, but out of time.) |
(→(Woozle) Tabula Response: addendum - crime and punishment) |
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The prison system is a huge mess, and needs reform. For-profit prison management companies have far too much power to set the agenda -- I believe they are at least partially responsible for the unprecedented percentage of our population which is in prison ''as well as'' many of the excesses in both good or bad treatment. This field needs to be much more accountable than it is -- and I doubt very much that private enterprise is a good way to handle it. | The prison system is a huge mess, and needs reform. For-profit prison management companies have far too much power to set the agenda -- I believe they are at least partially responsible for the unprecedented percentage of our population which is in prison ''as well as'' many of the excesses in both good or bad treatment. This field needs to be much more accountable than it is -- and I doubt very much that private enterprise is a good way to handle it. | ||
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| + | : '''Addendum''': I see no need for prisons to be primarily an instrument of ''punishment'', unless there is data to show that this is an effective method of reducing crime. Prisons should serve one purpose: minimizing the amount of crime committed. This can be done by both (1) physically restraining convicted criminals from committing more crimes, and (2) finding ways to engage convicted criminals in something more productive so that when/if they return to society they will not also return to crime. | ||
'''10th amendment''': We would probably agree about a lot of specifics and disagree about a lot of others. We agree about the war on drugs, at least. I ''think'' we're agreeing that what one state legalizes for itself should not be binding on any other. | '''10th amendment''': We would probably agree about a lot of specifics and disagree about a lot of others. We agree about the war on drugs, at least. I ''think'' we're agreeing that what one state legalizes for itself should not be binding on any other. | ||