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The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

obviatethestate.substack.com

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Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#2
Like all high morality, more advanced rehabilitation methods and/or more pleasant segregation of criminals from law abiding members of society, is a privilege of wealth. The richer we collectively are, the more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely.

The poorer we are, the more likely we have to resort to more barbaric methods of order maintenance, like execution.

Therefore, if you have a desire for a society that doesn't imprison people (or effectively psyops them into believing they're free when they're not), your primary obligation should be towards growing civilizational real wealth.

edit; wealth is not just resource wealth as the US has in abundance, but also cultural wealth, like raising children that know how to solve their problems with words instead of violence and put their shopping cart back despite any reward or punishment.

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#4
Over-reliance on prison seems to have worked astonishingly well for El Salvador. If your metric is murder rates then it's probably a world record in terms of change in murder rate from the highest in the world (106 per 100k in 2015) to one of the lowest (2.4 per 100k in 2023).

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#6

Like all high morality, more advanced rehabilitation methods and/or more pleasant segregation of criminals from law abiding members of society, is a privilege of wealth. The richer we collectively are, the more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely. The poorer we are, the more likely we have to resort to more barbaric methods of order maintenance, like execution. Therefore, i…

Alternately: The more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely, the richer we collectively become.

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#7
post #3

typical champagne socialist post. just look at Oakland and see if lax on crime policies work.

Penalty length has very little effect on crime motivation. The most important factor is the likelihood of getting caught. You want to see crime rates drop? Shift a large percentage of the prison budget to the police.

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#8

Like all high morality, more advanced rehabilitation methods and/or more pleasant segregation of criminals from law abiding members of society, is a privilege of wealth. The richer we collectively are, the more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely. The poorer we are, the more likely we have to resort to more barbaric methods of order maintenance, like execution. Therefore, i…

Yes, clearly, the US prison system is the way it is is because of lack of wealth /s

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#9
post #6

Like all high morality, more advanced rehabilitation methods and/or more pleasant segregation of criminals from law abiding members of society, is a privilege of wealth. The richer we collectively are, the more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely. The poorer we are, the more likely we have to resort to more barbaric methods of order maintenance, like execution. Therefore, i…

Alternately: The more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely, the richer we collectively become.

Only if those resources give a return on investment.

If managed counter productive individuals remain a perpetual parasitic cost on society, then it's not obvious that just executing them and being done with it isn't the greatest wealth generative action.

Re: The US over-reliance on incarceration is lazy and cruel

#10

Like all high morality, more advanced rehabilitation methods and/or more pleasant segregation of criminals from law abiding members of society, is a privilege of wealth. The richer we collectively are, the more resources we can devote to managing counterproductive individuals more humanely. The poorer we are, the more likely we have to resort to more barbaric methods of order maintenance, like execution. Therefore, i…

or higher taxes on the rich?
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