Quote:
Originally Posted by madcorgi
Long story. Sue me...
|
Wow. Great story and insight. I could not agree more that solutions to our crime problems are social, rather than punitive. That, and we incarcerate far too many for relatively innocuous offenses, many of which do not even have "victims".
Alas, in the end, there will always be those who will be prone to predation upon the rest of us. Those are the ones I am thinking of when I use words like "extermination". The question of the day is just what does it take for one to qualify for this treatment?
I don't think "first offenders" (which most often really means the first time they were caught and successfully prosecuted) qualify, no matter how bad the offense. Short of murder, that is. Maybe even not yet then. We make mistakes in this regard. We have recently seen some folks exonerated years, even decades after conviction through modern DNA evidence. So, maybe not even murderers. Just to be sure...
I'm thinking repeat, multiple violent felony offenders. The kinds who now qualify for "three strikes" sentencing in states that have such. These are the ones who have clearly demonstrated that they do not even want to try. Rather than give these life, just take their lives. We should not have to house and feed them for years, or decades, until they die of natural causes. They will die in prison anyway - let's just expedite the process a bit.
Oh, and
Scarface was a great movie...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crowbob
It seems we pretty much know how to fix the problem. But I haven’t heard much about why we don’t.
As cynical as it sounds, the industries providing criminal justice services do not want the problems fixed. Nor do the providers of social services. Think about it. Think about all the educators, social workers, mental health provides, legal people, law enforcement, prison bureaucrats and support people like food service, etc. And those are the people who have legal, supposedly productive careers and jobs.
If you add in the politicians, the drug manufacturers, border security, healthcare and big education it’s pretty easy to see why the problems are not being fixed and probably never will be.
|
You know, I've thought this as well, and sometimes still do. Then sometimes I think this would take a level of conscious, deliberate planning and organization beyond what I think mankind is capable. Too many separate, uncooperative moving parts to reach a level of agreement to make this happen. Yes, there is a lot of money being made, but it's being made by such vastly separated interests that I just don't think they could pull this off.
I get back to the root cause Terry alludes to above - far too many things are "criminal". That, and we jump right into punishment - admittedly feeding the machine to which you allude - rather than counseling, social programs, redirection, and all of that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chocaholic
How about we spare the most innocent of all who don’t yet have the ability to speak for themselves. You’re looking for criteria to spare those who potentially commit crimes and can seek help. Does it seem reasonable to execute those for the crime of not yet being born? I won’t apologize for bringing this up. Who to kill is the topic being discussed. To ignore a huge segment of humanity in the discussion seems disingenuous. Perhaps uncomfortable, but disingenuous.
|
This has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion, Mike. While a worthwhile topic in its own right, please don't sidetrack and dilute this thread with your misguided interjection of this wholly unrelated topic. Start a new thread or something. Actually, there have been plenty of threads on this already. Please go find one of those.