Frank Smith was locked up for 8 decades. At 98, what would it mean to be free?

Post by parineum » Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 2:14 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #72

parineum wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not against spending more per prisoner on actual rehabilitation efforts but I am very skeptical the US would see anywhere near that improvement. The circumstances that lead to crime in the two countries are quite different and those US prisoners end up right back in those situations when they are released.

I don't doubt that the Norwegian system has other aspects / safety nets that help here, but the article says they had a 70% rate as recently as the 1990s. It would be silly not to look at that 70% -> 20% drop and at least try and learn some of the lessons from it. "Officers are trained for 2 to 3 years before being sent to work" seems like a good one to start with, as does the skills building to prepare them for the…

Agreed but I have no idea if those aspects/safety nets existed in the 90s.

It perks my ears up a bit when I never see that mentioned because it would likely balloon the 4x price difference between the two prison systems.

Post by goodpoint » Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 9:59 AM UTC

ansible wrote: post #41

goodpoint wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if in the united states we refer to our prisons as 'correctional' facilities, what quantitative correction could require nearly a century of internment? It's only punishment, there is no correction at all. > if by any study it costs nearly 40,000 dollars to house a prisoner for one (1) year, was the night watchmans life truly worth 3.2 million dollars of Connecticut taxpayers money? Can we please not value people's…

> Can we please not value people's life in money? It feels quite icky to do this, but it is necessary when making policy decisions. Every day, governments and corporations decide to spend (or not spend) X amount of dollars to save Y number of lives. Does it make sense to spend some money on infant mortality prevention, vs research on cancer types that only really old people get? What about seatbelt laws? Or pollution…

No, measuring loss of income due to premature death is very different from saying "was the night watchmans life truly worth 3.2 million dollars".

On top of that, making healthcare decisions based on future income goes straight against ethical guidelines. By your logic people unable to work due to disability, age or serving a life sentence would be denied any healthcare.

Re: Frank Smith was locked up for 8 decades. At 98, what would it mean to be free?

Re: Frank Smith was locked up for 8 decades. At 98, what would it mean to be free?