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Comment by cpill

3 years ago

> You're never going to stop many of them from reoffending.

would seem to contradict:

> Punishments absolutely have a deterrent effect.

?

3 comments

cpill

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morgante  3 years ago

Both can be true. Most violent criminals will commit another crime after release, but the severity and swiftness of that crime will depend on how likely they are to be punished for it.

Even if punishment had no deterrent effect on recidivism it could still be effective at deterring youths from going down a criminal path.

  • cpill  3 years ago

    No, they can't.

    > _Most_ violent criminals will commit another crime after release

    But are _most_ criminals violent? I would guess not. We were talking about "many of them from reoffending" not a small subsection. If it is the case that "many of them from reoffending" then this condtrdicts the other premis.

    > Punishments absolutely have a deterrent effect.

    There is also no eveidence that "it could still be effective at deterring youths" which seems to be socio-political and not based on age bracket.

    • defrost  3 years ago

      You're replying to a six day old comment about the entire US prison system which is flawed on many many levels.

      For future reference a good line of exploration is:

          Denmark's recidivism rate is about 27 percent, roughly half the rate of the U.S., which ranges from 49 percent to 80 percent depending on the crime.

      which raises many questions; how does this vary by country and what are the reasons?

      The US prison system has a big issue with not being a simple punishment for a crime, it's very much a destruction of a persons life for the accusation of crime, once marked as a "former convict" a person in the US has difficulty regaining employment which leads to few options otherthan more crime.