Study: Potential criminals deterred by longer sentences

Post by amichail » Mon, May 18, 2009, 10:01 PM UTC

CWuestefeld wrote: post #8

amichail wrote: post #3

If you want to deter crime, use brain scans to identify potential criminals and give them medication to change the way their brain works.

For deeper thoughts on the use of psychology as a means of control, see Thomas Szasz, especially The Myth of Mental Illness . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Mental_Illness While there surely exist some disorders rooted in physical defects of the brain, mental illnesses too often become a means of forcing people into conformity. Thus, the use of illicit drugs is evidence of mental illness and must be treated…

Post by hotpockets » Mon, May 18, 2009, 11:46 PM UTC

pixcavator wrote: post #12

hotpockets wrote: post #2

This analysis seems way too simplistic. These prisoners were given a gift of a shorter sentence. People don't like losing something they've been given and so work hard to avoid losing it. I don't think you'd see this effect if you just changed the laws and made prison sentences longer for everyone. Only these people had the potential for a longer sentence, and compared to society at large, they knew they would be tre…

>the relative size of their potential punishment is larger then the rest of the people walking around outside. The articla does not compare the prisoners to "the rest of the people" but to other prisoners in this program. And within this group, they are "deterred by longer sentences".