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Prison Rape, Huh, What Is It Good For (Absolutely Nothing)
Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
I mean look at this monster. This scum of the earth. This sub human person who deserves to be raped for sexually abusing CHILDREN! CHILDREN!
Hmm, wait, wrong pedophile. This is the pedophile that should be raped trained straight to hell!
God damn it, I did it again. This time it's for reals. Lets all go rape this son of a bitch!
It really bothers me that, for some reason, rape is a suitable tool of justice. People are seriously just wringing their hands in gleeful anticipation of having Jared Fogle to choose between a '6-inch' or '12-inch' in prison. I mean, come on, isn't it hypocritical when we frown at Isis when they state that Rape is a suitable punishment?
There's also the fact that we are going to literally torture him to save his life (protective custody is essentially solitary confinement, which is widely considered to be a form of torture.)
Which sums up the Kafkaesque insanity that is the American penal system.
Jail isn't supposed to be just a punishment. It's supposed to be for rehabilitation. And even for those people who we deem aren't fit to interact with society for the rest of their life, that doesn't mean we can say "hey let's make their every day a living hell" because that's the kind of thinking about other people that gets people put in jail in the first place, or so we've be led to believe.
The popular viewpoint that prison is a place for people to be punished, and that anyone who goes to jail deserves whatever happens to them, is an attitude that has stuck around for a few centuries longer than it should have.
Jail isn't supposed to be just a punishment. It's supposed to be for rehabilitation.
While I agree that this is what it should be, this is a somewhat contentious statement.
Our prison system - our entire justice system, honestly - is pretty much built from the ground up to be punitive, and this is as much a problem as the popular opinion that punishment is the preferred purpose. (That sentence has many p-words.) Trying to use what we have as a form of rehabilitation is going to be difficult, much as using a toaster as a wheelbarrow would be difficult.
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Also, @Casually Hardcore please change the title of this thread to something less ridiculously inflammatory. "Is it cool to rape prisoners Y/N?" is not really inspiring honest and reasonable discourse. Perhaps something about prison reform?
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On the one substantive comment in the OP, I don't think joking about terrible subject matter is awful. It definitely risks trivializing a topic if the jokes become too widespread, but I enjoy dark humor a lot and making jokes about terrible things isn't a bad thing if you try to understand the situation at the same time.
On the one substantive comment in the OP, I don't think joking about terrible subject matter is awful. It definitely risks trivializing a topic if the jokes become too widespread, but I enjoy dark humor a lot and making jokes about terrible things isn't a bad thing if you try to understand the situation at the same time.
At this point we've joked about prison rape so much it's seen as a good thing.
We're well past the point where the jokes are no longer acceptable.
+6
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
There are far too many ways society tries to make rape okay.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
There are far too many ways society tries to make rape okay.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
It's okay if the victim consented to it.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
0
jmcdonaldI voted, did you?DC(ish)Registered Userregular
There are far too many ways society tries to make rape okay.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
It's okay if the victim consented to it.
Is that rape then?
I would think a key component of rape would be a lack of consent.
There's also the fact that we are going to literally torture him to save his life (protective custody is essentially solitary confinement, which is widely considered to be a form of torture.)
Which sums up the Kafkaesque insanity that is the American penal system.
This is a real problem. In a lot of facilities, medical accommodations are also solitary... which makes sense from an infectious disease perspective, but it still works out pretty much the same (22+ hours a day in a tiny room with no social interaction)
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
There are far too many ways society tries to make rape okay.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
It's okay if the victim consented to it.
Is that rape then?
I would think a key component of rape would be a lack of consent.
thatsthejoke
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
0
AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
edited August 2015
The joking around prison rape as a fitting punishment for offenders is a tiny little microcosm of everything broken about our penal system; it dehumanizes inmates while at the same time condoning violent sexual assault as repercussion, a vicious crime itself.
This is because people willfully refuse to understand the purpose of prison as a place of separation and rehabilitation, and instead enjoy seeing it as an endless hell for those unworthy to be in polite society.
This doesn't even really touch on how broken our system is w/r/t how many people are actually in prison, or how their abuse and exploitation is systematically ingrained and routine, or how untenable our laws are that landed them there to begin with.
On the one substantive comment in the OP, I don't think joking about terrible subject matter is awful. It definitely risks trivializing a topic if the jokes become too widespread, but I enjoy dark humor a lot and making jokes about terrible things isn't a bad thing if you try to understand the situation at the same time.
While I, personally, have Strong Opinions (tm) about rape humor, I don't see any way we can talk about it in any depth without bringing up certain topics that are verboten on this forum.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
There are far too many ways society tries to make rape okay.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
It's okay if the victim consented to it.
Is that rape then?
I would think a key component of rape would be a lack of consent.
Or do you mean consented and retracted?
I interpreted it as non-consensual sexual roleplay which are IMO totally fine when negotiated in a safe, informed way.
I agree with everything everybody has said so far, and just to add another complication orbiting this topic: pedophilia doesn't mean you've committed a crime. There are people who have realized that they have such inclinations and are attempting to resist them, and the mainstream derision of pedophiles doesn't really distinguish between offending and nonoffending, making it harder to seek and comply with treatment.
The joking around prison rape as a fitting punishment for offenders is a tiny little microcosm of everything broken about our penal system; it dehumanizes inmates while at the same time condoning violent sexual assault as repercussion, a viscous crime itself.
This is because people willfully refuse to understand the purpose of prison as a place of separation and rehabilitation, and instead enjoy seeing it as an endless hell for those unworthy to be in polite society.
This doesn't even really touch on how broken our system is w/r/t how many people are actually in prison, or how their abuse and exploitation is systematically ingrained and routine, or how untenable our laws are that landed them there to begin with.
Who here has read Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks? I ask because it seems that there is the view in the American public that jail should be a type of hell in order to provide punishment to the criminals and act as a deterrent for others to commit crimes, much in the same way that in Surface Detail some cultures put forward the claim that a digital afterlife hell is required to act as a deterrent to people's 'bad' behaviour. When you delve down into what it means, putting aside the whole issue of not all people in jail being actually guilty of the crime they were convicted of, it is pretty morally repugnant.
If society makes jail so horrible, it also can potentially cause increased violence levels when attempting to arrest individuals as they will have less to lose and may be more willing to take their chances to avoid going to the 'hell' that is jail.
The joking around prison rape as a fitting punishment for offenders is a tiny little microcosm of everything broken about our penal system; it dehumanizes inmates while at the same time condoning violent sexual assault as repercussion, a viscous crime itself.
This is because people willfully refuse to understand the purpose of prison as a place of separation and rehabilitation, and instead enjoy seeing it as an endless hell for those unworthy to be in polite society.
This doesn't even really touch on how broken our system is w/r/t how many people are actually in prison, or how their abuse and exploitation is systematically ingrained and routine, or how untenable our laws are that landed them there to begin with.
Who here has read Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks? I ask because it seems that there is the view in the American public that jail should be a type of hell in order to provide punishment to the criminals and act as a deterrent for others to commit crimes, much in the same way that in Surface Detail some cultures put forward the claim that a digital afterlife hell is required to act as a deterrent to people's 'bad' behaviour. When you delve down into what it means, putting aside the whole issue of not all people in jail being actually guilty of the crime they were convicted of, it is pretty morally repugnant.
If society makes jail so horrible, it also can potentially cause increased violence levels when attempting to arrest individuals as they will have less to lose and may be more willing to take their chances to avoid going to the 'hell' that is jail.
Kind of like what Ned says about the Night's Watch at the very beginning of Game of Thrones.
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0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
The joking around prison rape as a fitting punishment for offenders is a tiny little microcosm of everything broken about our penal system; it dehumanizes inmates while at the same time condoning violent sexual assault as repercussion, a viscous crime itself.
This is because people willfully refuse to understand the purpose of prison as a place of separation and rehabilitation, and instead enjoy seeing it as an endless hell for those unworthy to be in polite society.
This doesn't even really touch on how broken our system is w/r/t how many people are actually in prison, or how their abuse and exploitation is systematically ingrained and routine, or how untenable our laws are that landed them there to begin with.
Don't forget about what we do with them once they leave!
I agree with everything everybody has said so far, and just to add another complication orbiting this topic: pedophilia doesn't mean you've committed a crime. There are people who have realized that they have such inclinations and are attempting to resist them, and the mainstream derision of pedophiles doesn't really distinguish between offending and nonoffending, making it harder to seek and comply with treatment.
Urgh, top comment of that article complaining about some weird pedo agenda being just like the gay agenda and oh my christ.
But yes, creating situations where someone feels ashamed, incapable of reaching for help and destined to be sent to the hell holes that are American prisons doesn't actually help at risk people not commit crime. I mean, that situation is pretty much the text book feelings for suicide and other extreme acts.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I've always thought that one of the most dehumanizing things we do to our convicts is to take away their voting rights. I mean, supposedly after you go through prison you are supposed to have done your time and paid your dues, ready to be a member of society again. Yet for some reason, you still can't participate in this act that is supposed to be a fundamental right as a citizen of our republic? What the fuck for, except just to say "fuck you criminals"? Has the threat of losing the right to vote ever dissuaded someone from committing a criminal act? Are we worried all the felons are going to get together to form a large voting block and push through the "Murder is Totally Cool Now Guys Amendment"? I just don't get it.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I've always thought that one of the most dehumanizing things we do to our convicts is to take away their voting rights. I mean, supposedly after you go through prison you are supposed to have done your time and paid your dues, ready to be a member of society again. Yet for some reason, you still can't participate in this act that is supposed to be a fundamental right as a citizen of our republic? What the fuck for, except just to say "fuck you criminals"? Has the threat of losing the right to vote ever dissuaded someone from committing a criminal act? Are we worried all the felons are going to get together to form a large voting block and push through the "Murder is Totally Cool Now Guys Amendment"? I just don't get it.
Read up on how prisons were used in the Jim Crow South (TL;DR: they were used to basically create an enslaved workforce). A lot of these policies start making more sense when you consider that.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I've always thought that one of the most dehumanizing things we do to our convicts is to take away their voting rights. I mean, supposedly after you go through prison you are supposed to have done your time and paid your dues, ready to be a member of society again. Yet for some reason, you still can't participate in this act that is supposed to be a fundamental right as a citizen of our republic? What the fuck for, except just to say "fuck you criminals"? Has the threat of losing the right to vote ever dissuaded someone from committing a criminal act? Are we worried all the felons are going to get together to form a large voting block and push through the "Murder is Totally Cool Now Guys Amendment"? I just don't get it.
Read up on how prisons were used in the Jim Crow South (TL;DR: they were used to basically create an enslaved workforce). A lot of these policies start making more sense when you consider that.
Yeah, I know. When you look at all the groups who illogically have reduced representation at the federal level (Washington D.C., Felons, U.S. Territories like Puerto Rico), I don't think it's a coincidence that they also tend to be heavily not white.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I've always thought that one of the most dehumanizing things we do to our convicts is to take away their voting rights. I mean, supposedly after you go through prison you are supposed to have done your time and paid your dues, ready to be a member of society again. Yet for some reason, you still can't participate in this act that is supposed to be a fundamental right as a citizen of our republic? What the fuck for, except just to say "fuck you criminals"? Has the threat of losing the right to vote ever dissuaded someone from committing a criminal act? Are we worried all the felons are going to get together to form a large voting block and push through the "Murder is Totally Cool Now Guys Amendment"? I just don't get it.
Read up on how prisons were used in the Jim Crow South (TL;DR: they were used to basically create an enslaved workforce). A lot of these policies start making more sense when you consider that.
Yeah, I know. When you look at all the groups who illogically have reduced representation at the federal level (Washington D.C., Felons, U.S. Territories like Puerto Rico), I don't think it's a coincidence that they also tend to be heavily not white.
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I would argue that it's still ineffective at accomplishing anything even if you had a draconian system where being convicted of any given crime results in permanent banishment to the damned city of New York or whatever. Recidivism isn't just a problem because it creates more victims later down the line; it creates an entire criminal citizen class that people buy into and rarely escape from.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
I would argue that it's still ineffective at accomplishing anything even if you had a draconian system where being convicted of any given crime results in permanent banishment to the damned city of New York or whatever. Recidivism isn't just a problem because it creates more victims later down the line; it creates an entire criminal citizen class that people buy into and rarely escape from.
Life sentences just calcify this structure.
An example of this is the rather horrific cultures that draconian policies created in Europe during... well the 1600- earlier 1800s.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
Not really though. Most criminals are convinced they wont get caught or that the rules won't apply to them. In which case jail-as-a-deterrent doesn't work. There are many real life examples of this behavior, most prominently the death penalty's effect on murders (i.e. none).
If "punishment existing as a deterrent" worked nobody would speed or roll through a 4-way stop
0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
Works make have been the wrong word to use, but I've always argued from the perspective of, why would you mistreat these people if there is ever any goal of releasing them in the future?
Unless all sentences are permanent life sentences with no parole, you want people released from prison to be better than they were going in, not worse.
I agree with everything everybody has said so far, and just to add another complication orbiting this topic: pedophilia doesn't mean you've committed a crime. There are people who have realized that they have such inclinations and are attempting to resist them, and the mainstream derision of pedophiles doesn't really distinguish between offending and nonoffending, making it harder to seek and comply with treatment.
Urgh, top comment of that article complaining about some weird pedo agenda being just like the gay agenda and oh my christ.
But yes, creating situations where someone feels ashamed, incapable of reaching for help and destined to be sent to the hell holes that are American prisons doesn't actually help at risk people not commit crime. I mean, that situation is pretty much the text book feelings for suicide and other extreme acts.
Is curing pedophiles even an ideal? I don't see much difference between that and homosexuality, other than pedophiles having the shitty luck of having their targets of attraction being considered incapable of giving consent for a number of very valid reasons.
Jail as 'hell' only works if you never release anyone from jail.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
Not really though. Most criminals are convinced they wont get caught or that the rules won't apply to them. In which case jail-as-a-deterrent doesn't work. There are many real life examples of this behavior, most prominently the death penalty's effect on murders (i.e. none).
Has there been any good research on whether increasing the consistency of punishment works in deterring criminals?
I'm actually a fan of the broken windows theory. It tends to work out horribly in practice, but as far as I can tell this seems to be because the people implementing it generally can't resist the urge to increase the severity of punishments as well, rather than decreasing them to maintain the same total punishment for a repeat offender.
I think general consensus is that increasing the likelihood of catching criminals works as a deterrent, while increasing severity of punishment doesn't.
Broadly speaking.
Unfortunately, one of those things is hard and one is easy.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I agree with everything everybody has said so far, and just to add another complication orbiting this topic: pedophilia doesn't mean you've committed a crime. There are people who have realized that they have such inclinations and are attempting to resist them, and the mainstream derision of pedophiles doesn't really distinguish between offending and nonoffending, making it harder to seek and comply with treatment.
Urgh, top comment of that article complaining about some weird pedo agenda being just like the gay agenda and oh my christ.
But yes, creating situations where someone feels ashamed, incapable of reaching for help and destined to be sent to the hell holes that are American prisons doesn't actually help at risk people not commit crime. I mean, that situation is pretty much the text book feelings for suicide and other extreme acts.
Is curing pedophiles even an ideal? I don't see much difference between that and homosexuality, other than pedophiles having the shitty luck of having their targets of attraction being considered incapable of giving consent for a number of very valid reasons.
Pedophilia is a mental disorder not a sexual preference. There's not a lot of data on treating it since you'd be hard struck to find volunteers and nobody would fund it so we don't have any real idea how to treatit
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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This pretty much covers it.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
There's also the fact that we are going to literally torture him to save his life (protective custody is essentially solitary confinement, which is widely considered to be a form of torture.)
Which sums up the Kafkaesque insanity that is the American penal system.
Done in one.
~gavel~
Next topic.
The popular viewpoint that prison is a place for people to be punished, and that anyone who goes to jail deserves whatever happens to them, is an attitude that has stuck around for a few centuries longer than it should have.
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Has a victim ever attempted to sue the state over this?
While I agree that this is what it should be, this is a somewhat contentious statement.
Our prison system - our entire justice system, honestly - is pretty much built from the ground up to be punitive, and this is as much a problem as the popular opinion that punishment is the preferred purpose. (That sentence has many p-words.) Trying to use what we have as a form of rehabilitation is going to be difficult, much as using a toaster as a wheelbarrow would be difficult.
At this point we've joked about prison rape so much it's seen as a good thing.
We're well past the point where the jokes are no longer acceptable.
I am not okay with any of them.
In fact, I have serious questions about the moral fiber of anyone who would say that there are circumstances in which raping someone is an okay thing to do.
It's okay if the victim consented to it.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Is that rape then?
I would think a key component of rape would be a lack of consent.
Or do you mean consented and retracted?
This is a real problem. In a lot of facilities, medical accommodations are also solitary... which makes sense from an infectious disease perspective, but it still works out pretty much the same (22+ hours a day in a tiny room with no social interaction)
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
thatsthejoke
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
This is because people willfully refuse to understand the purpose of prison as a place of separation and rehabilitation, and instead enjoy seeing it as an endless hell for those unworthy to be in polite society.
This doesn't even really touch on how broken our system is w/r/t how many people are actually in prison, or how their abuse and exploitation is systematically ingrained and routine, or how untenable our laws are that landed them there to begin with.
While I, personally, have Strong Opinions (tm) about rape humor, I don't see any way we can talk about it in any depth without bringing up certain topics that are verboten on this forum.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I interpreted it as non-consensual sexual roleplay which are IMO totally fine when negotiated in a safe, informed way.
But seriously, no, it's not okay. I don't believe in "fitting retribution" by prison vigilantes.
http://time.com/3486493/preventing-child-sex-abuse-stephen-collins/
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Who here has read Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks? I ask because it seems that there is the view in the American public that jail should be a type of hell in order to provide punishment to the criminals and act as a deterrent for others to commit crimes, much in the same way that in Surface Detail some cultures put forward the claim that a digital afterlife hell is required to act as a deterrent to people's 'bad' behaviour. When you delve down into what it means, putting aside the whole issue of not all people in jail being actually guilty of the crime they were convicted of, it is pretty morally repugnant.
If society makes jail so horrible, it also can potentially cause increased violence levels when attempting to arrest individuals as they will have less to lose and may be more willing to take their chances to avoid going to the 'hell' that is jail.
Kind of like what Ned says about the Night's Watch at the very beginning of Game of Thrones.
If shoplifting has a sentence of 100 years then okay.
But since it doesn't, by making prison 'hell', all you're doing is ensuring that people that come out are psychologically damaged and will have a serious chip on their shoulder regarding the way they've been treated. The worse it is, the more likely people released from prison will seek retribution against society at large.
That's not rehabilitation.
That's an eye for eye making the world blind.
Don't forget about what we do with them once they leave!
Urgh, top comment of that article complaining about some weird pedo agenda being just like the gay agenda and oh my christ.
But yes, creating situations where someone feels ashamed, incapable of reaching for help and destined to be sent to the hell holes that are American prisons doesn't actually help at risk people not commit crime. I mean, that situation is pretty much the text book feelings for suicide and other extreme acts.
I've always thought that one of the most dehumanizing things we do to our convicts is to take away their voting rights. I mean, supposedly after you go through prison you are supposed to have done your time and paid your dues, ready to be a member of society again. Yet for some reason, you still can't participate in this act that is supposed to be a fundamental right as a citizen of our republic? What the fuck for, except just to say "fuck you criminals"? Has the threat of losing the right to vote ever dissuaded someone from committing a criminal act? Are we worried all the felons are going to get together to form a large voting block and push through the "Murder is Totally Cool Now Guys Amendment"? I just don't get it.
Read up on how prisons were used in the Jim Crow South (TL;DR: they were used to basically create an enslaved workforce). A lot of these policies start making more sense when you consider that.
Yeah, I know. When you look at all the groups who illogically have reduced representation at the federal level (Washington D.C., Felons, U.S. Territories like Puerto Rico), I don't think it's a coincidence that they also tend to be heavily not white.
I would argue that it's still ineffective at accomplishing anything even if you had a draconian system where being convicted of any given crime results in permanent banishment to the damned city of New York or whatever. Recidivism isn't just a problem because it creates more victims later down the line; it creates an entire criminal citizen class that people buy into and rarely escape from.
Life sentences just calcify this structure.
An example of this is the rather horrific cultures that draconian policies created in Europe during... well the 1600- earlier 1800s.
Not really though. Most criminals are convinced they wont get caught or that the rules won't apply to them. In which case jail-as-a-deterrent doesn't work. There are many real life examples of this behavior, most prominently the death penalty's effect on murders (i.e. none).
Unless all sentences are permanent life sentences with no parole, you want people released from prison to be better than they were going in, not worse.
Is curing pedophiles even an ideal? I don't see much difference between that and homosexuality, other than pedophiles having the shitty luck of having their targets of attraction being considered incapable of giving consent for a number of very valid reasons.
Has there been any good research on whether increasing the consistency of punishment works in deterring criminals?
I'm actually a fan of the broken windows theory. It tends to work out horribly in practice, but as far as I can tell this seems to be because the people implementing it generally can't resist the urge to increase the severity of punishments as well, rather than decreasing them to maintain the same total punishment for a repeat offender.
Broadly speaking.
Unfortunately, one of those things is hard and one is easy.
Pedophilia is a mental disorder not a sexual preference. There's not a lot of data on treating it since you'd be hard struck to find volunteers and nobody would fund it so we don't have any real idea how to treatit