AOC supports a conversation about the abolition of prison. I might not be against that, but I wonder what it is about prison she doesn't like? There's free health care, free housing, free food, free education, free security, controlled speech, energy use is controlled, resources are controlled. Aren't those things she fights for? Is prison the socialist Utopia? Or does socialist Utopia require the illusion of free choice? If we changed the name from prison to commune, would she be for it? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/american-apartheid-aoc-floats-prison-abolition
Maybe we should start with what we think prisons do and what are the longer term consequences of incarceration. Are there any options?
Meh! Sometimes I think some of the Asian countries have it right where they use corporal punishment over imprisonment. Mind you most tend to use both but ask yourself what is worse - administering pain or taking a chunk out of someone’s life?
Scott Adams suggested that prison represents a loss of privacy, and that in the modern age, prison could certainly be a loss of digital privacy. He suggested that everything about a person be made public, medical records, bank accounts, education, taxes etc. That would take a bit of convincing for me, because it doesn't seem like something that can be undone. Every sentence would be a life sentence.
There are tens of millions of typically Democrat "illusion of security at the cost of freedom" voting females of the NIMBY sort in this country who won't cotton to having convicted felons "out and about" among them and especially their children to a greater extent than they already are. This is a very -bad- talking point for Democrats that they should stifle immediately before the election year. It only takes a slight % swing in the important younger female Democrat voting skew to ruin all prospects for 2020. "Brainfar...erm... storming" doing away with prisons is one way to accomplish that.
I suspect the true answer (which you certainly won't get) to that question would depend on which political side was doing the interrogating. IME, lefties are just fine with extremes in "persuasion," so long as they are the ones with the water and the board.
On the side of “don’t do what doesn’t work” research proves that all “enhanced interrogation” gets you is lies There was a rather famous case in 1994 of an American diplomats son who was fought vandalising cars and stealing signs in Singapore he was sentenced to 6 lashes of the Rattan it was commuted to 4 lashes after international pressure was applied I was in Singapore not long after and they were wearing white 5 shirts with a bum with four marks and the meme “American backside 1/3 off” Singapore defends the use of the Rattan and “caning” as a way of keeping its streets safe
A lot of us tend to think there is some merit in that. Japan used to have a system of short prison terms, but mostly in isolation. The idea was to make people think about the crimes. I seem to remember some experiments here in the US, during the 1800s, that used a similar strategy. It was a total failure. Simply locking people up like we do now doesn't seem to help much either.
It is an interesting topic. And almost as complex as finding a solution for immigration. Are we headed back to the days of 50 lashes in the public square instead of months in prison?
The purest form of Socialism is Slavery.... The next purest is Prison... The next purest is to live on welfare in a crime and drug infested project...
In the end, the prison industrial complex is a large expense on tax payers, and perhaps AOC would rather those funds be spent in more appropriate, better ways?
Progressive? I don't think AOC has suggested corporal punishment. But the progressives do have a love affair with cancel culture, which displays a willingness to utterly destroy someone's ability to earn income, socialize, and interact with society in general, over the slightest of personal offenses.
What's a more appropriate way to spend money on someone convicted of a crime than providing them with free food, healthcare, housing, energy, etc?
Prisons are for punishment and to protect the law abiding, at least during the criminal's time behind bars.
There's nothing better than punishing a criminal in prison. Any expense is fully justified. But conditions should be made much worse, and expense to law-abiding taxpayers reduced.
If you've been paying attention for the last 25 years or so, you would know that many "convicted of a crime" in this country are actually innocent. Likely you haven't been paying attention. Your point seems absurd and trivial.
I'm going to bet that you are a product of our Puritan-Judeo-Christian heritage, and a Christian. Hate your next-door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace.
I'm in favor of hanging horse thieves if something taller than mesquite is handy. And I'm a fan of Hammurabi.
Ah! Now THAT is a worthy question But you have not answered mine Is it more cruel to take precious freedom away for years or to deliver fleeting pain?
