No ex-convict wants to return to prison. However, they've just been put in a position where all of their peers are also criminals, and getting a well-compensated job after release is incredibly difficult, especially if they do not already have specialized skills and education. So it's very easy to fall back into bad habits, especially if that's how they were paying the bills.
Destigmatizing a criminal record when it comes to hiring (or anything else for that matter) would help a lot, but the government doesn't seem too interested in helping out with that (though I hope the current low unemployment rates help in this regard). Prison education programs would also help. If the government is going to lock people in little boxes with other criminals, stigmatize them for the rest of their lives, and seriously contend the point of it is to reduce recidivism, they need to be doing this sort of education at the very least.
Some do. Perhaps the most famous example is Charles Manson who said he'd been in prison for so much of his life that it was his home.
Sorry I forget the source, but one longtime prisoner said that after release, it's like he was still in jail, because after being imprisoned, the real prison is in your mind.
Incarceration becomes a mindset.
With three strikes laws locking people up for life for relatively minor third offences, this should give us pause.
Putting these examples aside, there is a lot of evidence that punishment simply does not work.
For example many states have the death penalty for capital crimes, sometimes by the medievally brutal electric chair[1], and still people continue to commit murder.
[1] Like burning at the stake with all the modern conveniences.
Right, but I'm assuming you live in a decent community with decent support. You live in a decent house with a decent job. This is also the reason you are likely not to commit a significant crime-- there is no need. There is no power to be gained, no money that you couldn't obtain legally, no significant anger or behavioral patterns.
But the opposite is true for most re offending criminals. Their freedom from the cage thrusts them into another cage. There is no point in not committing crime, especially if you are part of a gang. The gang affords you power and a kind of familial bond to other people.
This is so true. I've heard friends who've been in the workhouse talk about it, how it was a free place to stay and you didn't have to worry about where your meals were coming from. It's not that they "wanted" to be there, but they preferred it over indefinite jail.
If you're treated like an animal in a cage, odds are you won't have the skills to survive in society when you're eventually released, and end up falling back into old habits.
Watch this and see what you think:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80217333
Some of it goes against your instincts, but the results speak for themselves.
Punitive justice sounds great in theory but in practice it has not prevented crime from occurring and reoccurring.
There is a lot of research on punishment showing that it only works to increase the motivation to not get caught. It in no way influences the reasons behind criminal/illegal behavior. Otherwise no one would ever get a second parking or speeding ticket or a dui.
Having prisons be run as colleges is better for society than having prisons run as plantations.
In 2018, high quality online education is close to free. Coursera, edux, udemy are just some of the examples.
Intuitively I agree that most convicts do not want to return to prison again (though I am certain you can find examples if you tried).
But I believe the argument is that the way prison/punishment is structured right now makes reintegration into society difficult, and as a result is ineffective.
When the choice is to commit crimes or live in hellish poverty, the choice becomes easier. Going to prison just means you get free food and board for a while. Sure, it's awful. But your only shot getting a better life is crime....
Yea, creating this environment for these people is just a start, but it goes into a positive direction. I agree that punishing these people doesn't do any good in the long term.
Destigmatizing a criminal record when it comes to hiring (or anything else for that matter) would help a lot, but the government doesn't seem too interested in helping out with that (though I hope the current low unemployment rates help in this regard). Prison education programs would also help. If the government is going to lock people in little boxes with other criminals, stigmatize them for the rest of their lives, and seriously contend the point of it is to reduce recidivism, they need to be doing this sort of education at the very least.