Comment by abirch
3 hours ago
Some of the difficulties of criminal-justice reform include: you can't arrest your way out of mental illness. It's easier for society to lock up the mentally ill in with a 1-dollar bond that it is to provide the help that they need. It's probably cheaper to do give them the housing and help, but it's easier to get money for jails and jailers than it is to get money for mental health facilities.
> It's probably cheaper to do give them the housing and help, but it's easier to get money for jails and jailers than it is to get money for mental health facilities.
It’s not really. We are approaching $100k/year in Seattle just to house someone in a tiny home via a non profit, without any help beyond that. Prison/jail is only around $60k/year, in comparison. There is must be some corruption going on, but no one will even consider it as a possibility.
I agree that this is a major challenge, but (for example) it has basically nothing to do with the carjacking phenomenon. I'm just saying, this stuff is complicated, and anyone with a straightforward solution is wrong.