| Let's remember that there are four (arguably more) pillars of a
criminal justice system. The two we are missing here are deterrence and incapacitation [0]. One of the reasons for putting people in jail is so that they won't be
able to continue offending, in other words to "protect the public". Another is to stop people offending in the first place. A couple of modern problems come to mind. A society that lives in fear
of crime and is low on forgiveness wants to lock 'em up forever and
throw away the key. There is no concept of time having been served.
This also goes against the grain of a "for profit" prison system by
disincentivising rehabilitation. In a society with rampant poverty and poor healthcare the deterrence
part breaks down. People would rather get into prison than die of cold
and hunger on the streets. In response, prisons must become ever more
brutal to stop that. Therefore a high trust, low poverty society has less incarcerated
persons independent of "objective criminality". [0] https://www.bsslawllc.com/blog/2021/12/the-four-pillars-of-s... |