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A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

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Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#11

Post by mineshaftgap »

nfoz wrote: post #10
hyperbovine wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

Why, what would be your concern? Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Germany/Uni... Murder rate for 2011 (Homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants): Germany: 0.86. USA: 5. That's nearly 6x as many murders per capita in the USA than Germany.

Germans don't cross an empty street against the light and register with the police every time they move. I am not sure you can really compare the two.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#12

Post by nashashmi »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #7
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

It's very similar to the drug problem. As soon as we label these people criminals, we just don't care what happens to them. Because they are now not people, the DA has no problem throwing every single possible crime against them. This means they are not prosecuted for much more than what they did. "Going easy" on criminals is not a good way to retain a position in government in the US, so we do the opposite. It is in…

> As soon as we label these people criminals, we just don't care what happens to them.

Probably because felons don't have the right to vote. So no politician or anyone else cares much.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#13

Post by joshstrange »

hyperbovine wrote: post #8
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

FYI "because I want the person to suffer" is not a valid reason to lock someone up.

We lock people up as a punishment just like your parents may have sent you to your room when you were acting up. We do it under the thinking of they won't do it again once they've paid their debt but that thinking is flawed on SO many level. Among them are:

1. Prison does NOT reform people in fact it pushes many deeper into a life of crime

2. Even after they have "paid their debt to society" they are still ostracised and disadvantaged

3. Unlike your parents there is no mercy/compassion in our judicial system AFAICT or if there is it's only directed at upper-class white males....

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#15

Post by briantakita »

mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

Business as usual in the Prison Industrial Complex, aka the New Jim Crowe. Some people make lots of money by locking people up. I don't expect the laws to change anytime soon.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#16

Post by mineshaftgap »

joshstrange wrote: post #13
hyperbovine wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

FYI "because I want the person to suffer" is not a valid reason to lock someone up. We lock people up as a punishment just like your parents may have sent you to your room when you were acting up. We do it under the thinking of they won't do it again once they've paid their debt but that thinking is flawed on SO many level. Among them are: 1. Prison does NOT reform people in fact it pushes many deeper into a life of…

People are also locked up to keep them away from ordinary citizens.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#17

Post by mikeash »

hyperbovine wrote: post #8
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

The way you compare them, you make it sound like increasing the prison term will decrease the time the loved ones spend mourning.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#18

Post by sek »

mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

If you think about it in Germany he would have gotten a 9 year sentence for something like this. It worked, he was rehabilitated and became an integrated member of society again.

This guy is a good argument against these long sentences, it doesn't make any sense for a society to keep this guy until he dies in prison for taxpayer money (not even considering the cruelty of it). Especially when he didn't commit a murder.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#19

Post by atlantic »

hyperbovine wrote: post #8
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

Which deceased is that? This person was convicted of robbery, not murder.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#20

Post by mikeash »

mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…

Another side of this is that the harsher you make the punishments for small crimes, the less you discourage moving up to bigger crimes.

If you're robbing a place and your punishment for being caught is effectively life in prison, what reason do you have not to murder all the potential witnesses to improve your odds of getting away with the crime? All you have is morality, and I don't want to rely on the morality of criminals.

I know that the deterrent effect of prison on criminals is highly debatable, but if somebody is robbing me, I don't want all of the incentives given to him to point towards murdering me too.

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