SamSpade
Well-Known Member
That's another thing I'd change. No more "life sentences".
This is going to sound weird - but - let me back it up a bit. One year in high school, the resolution for the next year's debate was about prison sentencing and reform.
I spent the better part of a summer reading about the death penalty - or its alternative, life sentence.
Fortunately for me, one of the judges was on my paper route and lived about a quarter mile from my house.
I went to his office at the courthouse - and he had a stack of papers this high to read for the summer.
The 15 mile trek home on the public bus - and the long walk from the stop to where I lived - whew.
It's one subject that, at least, by junior year - I knew a lot about.
What I learned was that - unless you make a galactic, colossal change in the way things are done regarding the death penalty -
it's actually cheaper to sentence them to life. Why? Freaking endless appeals. Legal fees and so on.
And sometimes, the prisoner just plain says, get it over with already, I'm tired of the endless torment.
Such is the idiocy of our legal system - people tend to languish on death row - the current *AVERAGE* is about 15 years.
You can look it up - seems illogical but life without parole can actually cost LESS.
The other issue is something I don't think you'd get on board with, but I will bring it up.
The argument is always, why do we have a prison system at all? I get the point for execution - but why prison?
Is it deterrence? For some, it's not a deterrent at all - it's a deterrent for people like you and me who are
typically law-abiding. But not for many.
Is it rehabilitative? I mean, the old saw about destroying your enemy by making them a friend - don't you end crime
by undoing his criminality? There are many who argue and believe the purpose of the prison system is to set them straight.
Persuade them that - this is sheer hell and you never want to come back here.
Lastly - and I think this is where most people at least *FEEL* - it's punishment. Do the crime, do the time.
Justice is getting what you deserve and we serve it up here. If that guy who beat and raped my sister went to jail -
I don't care if he gets rehabilitated. I hope he got poked daily while in there. I hope he got what he deserved.
About 2% of the prison population is serving life without parole. Keeping them, executing them, economically it doesn't matter.
Maybe while serving, they can be pumped for information.