Something that has been lost on people over the years is what purpose prisons serve. Many people are under the false impression that it somehow deters would be criminals. It does not in any significant way at all. In fact we have seen that harsher laws only lead to more people in jail, never less crime. A criminal is going to commit a crime regardless of possible future punishment, especially if that crime doesn’t hurt anyone else, at least not in their own mind.
No, the purpose of prison is to separate people who cannot function in a society of laws from the general public. Now while in prison one may get better, or worse, (usually worse) but that has little to do with a prison, and everything to do with that person’s underlying will and desire to change themselves.
Since the concoction of this farcical war on drugs, the amount of drugs consumed by the general population has stayed pretty much the same relative to population, with minor dips here and there depending exclusively on the economy, and in utter defiance of whatever hair-brained schemes government has come up with to force abstinence. This should be enough to show that at the very least for drugs, prison simply does not work.
Alas, people in large part are incredibly stupid. There is new research though that shows our puritan policies may be even more damning than they first appear.
Most people have heard people claim, if they are not claiming it themselves, that jail time made them worse. But new research shows that it’s not only the influence of hardened criminals that creates this change in otherwise harmless minor drug offenders, but the stigma of having been jailed itself.
Supporting Evidence.
No, the purpose of prison is to separate people who cannot function in a society of laws from the general public. Now while in prison one may get better, or worse, (usually worse) but that has little to do with a prison, and everything to do with that person’s underlying will and desire to change themselves.
Since the concoction of this farcical war on drugs, the amount of drugs consumed by the general population has stayed pretty much the same relative to population, with minor dips here and there depending exclusively on the economy, and in utter defiance of whatever hair-brained schemes government has come up with to force abstinence. This should be enough to show that at the very least for drugs, prison simply does not work.
Alas, people in large part are incredibly stupid. There is new research though that shows our puritan policies may be even more damning than they first appear.
Most people have heard people claim, if they are not claiming it themselves, that jail time made them worse. But new research shows that it’s not only the influence of hardened criminals that creates this change in otherwise harmless minor drug offenders, but the stigma of having been jailed itself.
Supporting Evidence.
The fact is that the percent of the human population that takes drugs has not increased or decreased significantly since recorded history. To think that money, jail, and lame slogans can change the course of human history is sheer arrogance and a waist of time. So imprison those who are a danger to themselves and others, but if you want a person to stop taking drugs, they have to be dealt with as an individual, and with rehabilitation and education, not with a whip.
