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Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

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Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#71

> In life, like chess, every move has a consequence. This is all pretty hyperbolic post-hoc reasoning. My guess is that against the alternative of juveniles just sitting in a cell and being neglected any program that stimulates them, invests time and effort into them, and gets them passionate is going to have promising results. disclaimer: I think this is a great result, and should be promoted but the pseudo-scientif…

Reminds me of the NBA ads claiming life and basketball are "so similar".

These creative sentences are great when they work, but are there any checks and balances on this? What if a judge thinks religious studies are the best way to reform a child? Are they obligated to participate, or is it an option for the kid to go to juvenile hall instead?

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#72
The great thing about chess is that it does not discriminate. A child can beat an adult, poor can beat rich, uneducated can beat educated, etc..

When I played as a kid, it gave me a lot of confidence because I could beat a grown adult in a game of intellect. This had a huge impact on my life.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#74

> In life, like chess, every move has a consequence. This is all pretty hyperbolic post-hoc reasoning. My guess is that against the alternative of juveniles just sitting in a cell and being neglected any program that stimulates them, invests time and effort into them, and gets them passionate is going to have promising results. disclaimer: I think this is a great result, and should be promoted but the pseudo-scientif…

> > In life, like chess, every move has a consequence.

> This is all pretty hyperbolic post-hoc reasoning.

Sure, but OTOH it is literally true.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if this had backfired I wonder if people would talk about how chess "Makes you see everything in black and white. You win or lose, or rarely draw. There is no team work!" It would be interesting to know if chess is more effective than, say, reading or making movies. There is something intellectual about it.

I imagine there's something beneficial in the fact that it's competitive, and therefore non-solitary. You're forced to interact with your opponent.

Depends on the definition of interaction. In professional chess you aren't allowed to interact with opponent (talk etc) at all. All you do is greet, make moves, record them and offer draw, resign or accept resignation. You can have some interaction later.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#76

> In life, like chess, every move has a consequence. This is all pretty hyperbolic post-hoc reasoning. My guess is that against the alternative of juveniles just sitting in a cell and being neglected any program that stimulates them, invests time and effort into them, and gets them passionate is going to have promising results. disclaimer: I think this is a great result, and should be promoted but the pseudo-scientif…

I’ve been exploring the idea of an alt-prison startup.

I imagine things like nature, skills, community, art, trauma healing, etc. could all be a big part of it.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#77

In Australia, they have (or were) using flying lessons to try and rehabilitate drug addicts [1]. Apparently the idea was to stall the plane and have the patients recover from the stall, as a way of teaching them about taking control of their own life. I don't know what the long term results are, and it's part of a longer term rehab program so it would be hard to narrow it down specifically. Regardless, it's an intere…

Having stalled aircraft many times, I don't see how this would be linked. Un-stalling is the easiest thing in the world (assuming you aren't close to the ground). Doing it perfectly to military standards takes practice, but simple recovery is a nothing task. Either way, it is done and over in seconds. It's a little scary if you haven't done it before, but after the first time it's nothing. Recovery from drug addiction takes years, requiring many thousands of difficult decisions.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#78
post #68
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed people often object to these types of schemes because they see them as rewarding people for bad behaviour. I'm not usually one of those people (If it works, it works, right?). But I feel like giving out flying lessons (a lifelong and unaffordable goal for many people) would be a pretty tough idea to sell to the tax paying public.

Drug addiction is a disease, not a "bad behavior"

I agree completely, but not everyone does. Either way, my point still stands. I think it'd be just as much of a tough sell if people with (for example) depression were being given free flying lessons.

People have a hard-wired need to feel that things are "fair". I think we'd probably all get along a lot better as a species if we could drop that notion and concentrate on what A) works and B) is cost effective.

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#79

> In life, like chess, every move has a consequence. This is all pretty hyperbolic post-hoc reasoning. My guess is that against the alternative of juveniles just sitting in a cell and being neglected any program that stimulates them, invests time and effort into them, and gets them passionate is going to have promising results. disclaimer: I think this is a great result, and should be promoted but the pseudo-scientif…

Yes, if this had backfired I wonder if people would talk about how chess "Makes you see everything in black and white. You win or lose, or rarely draw. There is no team work!" It would be interesting to know if chess is more effective than, say, reading or making movies. There is something intellectual about it.

[deleted]

Re: Judges sentence youth offenders to chess, with promising results

#80
post #3

Slightly off topic but I would like to mention that if you play chess online, the best one is lichess.org. It is free and opensource: https://github.com/ornicar/lila . I am unaffiliated but really like lichess.

Can also recommend lichess. Been playing there for a couple years now. They're a registered non-profit, and none of the features are hidden if you choose not to donate.
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