[padmanabhan01]

I don't think anyone likes spending money on people who've broken the law. But given that the options are 1. Incarcerate and spend more or 2. provide assistance and spend less, it doesn't look like much of a choice.. unless someone can think of a better solution

[eastbayjake]

Didn't mean to put this forward as a "summary" of the thread, just wanted to note the moral argument going on in some of the comments -- the injustice that people who follow the laws pay to rehabilitate those who break the laws against them, versus the argument that it's far cheaper to rehabilitate people who break laws than to continually incarcerate people who remain unrehabilitated -- and point to a similar argument in another contentious public policy issue.

I've changed "much" to "some" to weaken my claim re: how much disagreement about that is going on this thread. There is certainly some: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9899924

[maxerickson]

I was just pushing back on the thread summary that was offered. I think it is wrong, and it's a pet peeve of mine when people offer up a summary that is more convenient to their argument than it is accurate.