Punishment is it enough,

[Warrigal]

By the way Dame Warrigal "Have you been the victim of any crime"?

Admittedly, I have not but I am still capable of drawing distinctions between levels of harm to society of different crimes.

I have always understood that a principle of what we refer to as British justice is that the punishment for serious crimes is the loss of liberty for a set period of time. Gaol is not meant to be more than that. That is why we have abolished flogging and other forms of physical punishment for prisoners.

Custodial sentences are expensive and where the offender can be dealt with by some other means I believe it is worthwhile exploring the other options.

I have only known one person who did time. He was an accountant with a gambling problem who was found guilty of defrauding his employer of some thousands of dollars. He served one year in prison which shamed him and his entirely innocent wife and family. It was served at a prison farm rather than a high security prison and it was sufficient to ensure that he never contemplated reoffending. He also received help to deal with his gambling addiction. However, he had to live with the shame of a criminal record for the rest of his life.

I think he was treated appropriately by the justice system, just as I think it appropriate that Ivan Milat, the backpacker serial murderer, will never be released from his maximum security cell. All crimes are not equal and not everyone can be redeemed, but a lot can be.

I am against mandatory sentencing although I approve of guidelines for judges when delivering their judgements. It's easy to get outraged when reading newspaper reports of trials but it is the judge who hears all the evidence.

 

[tnthomas]

I know someone who is a Prison Guard. He said that being too severe and harsh makes prisoners very resentful and that resentment often spills over into violence against both prison guards and other prisoners. I'm not suggesting that prisoners be pampered but I agree that rehabilitation is just as important as punishment.

I work in a state prison and can tell you that the staff are not present to punish the inmate, that's the Court's jurisdiction. Educational programs are available, rehabilitating the inmate for [successful]re-entry to society being the goal.

 

[Warrigal]

I'm very pleased to hear that, tnthomas.

 

[Butterfly]

Well, here this last week we just had a person picked up for burglary on a motor vehicle. He had just bonded out three days before from a similar crime. AND, when he committed the similar crime, he was on probation from committing yet another similar crime.

If they let him bond out again, he'll do it again. Why in the world can't they just put him in jail and keep him there for a while???

 

[Warrigal]

Has he been convicted yet? If not I would think that the prosecution/police should ask that bail*** be revoked immediately. It sounds to me like they would have a strong case.

*** I'm assuming that being bonded means the same as being out on bail, pending trial.

 

[chic]

Punishment/incarceration have existed for millenia and do not deter crime. Maybe it's time society gets to the root of what causes people to turn to crime in the first place, like poverty, lack of education, negative home environment, physical and psychological abuse, or peer pressure. If we could solve these problems people may not turn to crime at all. I know that presently this is over simplying a serious problem, but I hope someday inroads are made and crime stats begin to dwindle as a result. It's possible.

 

[mitchezz]

I work in a state prison and can tell you that the staff are not present to punish the inmate, that's the Court's jurisdiction. Educational programs are available, rehabilitating the inmate for [successful]re-entry to society being the goal.

I was speaking more of severely restricting priviliges such as tv, music, books etc would cause resentment.

 

[Ralphy1]

Society seems to swing back and forth on this issue. "Three Strikes and You are Out" was very popular in this country when it looked like the drug culture would do us in until overcrowding caused a look at rehabilitation rather than incarceration being the way to go. Just a tangent on my part, I know, but I thought that this "horse" had been beaten to death, evidently not so...

 

[WhatInThe]

No intoxicating drugs at all? Alcohol falls within those parameters, I fear if that were in place, it would be very difficult to find sufficient applicants for law enforcement jobs.

Alcohol might be intoxicating but it is legal for starters. If an applicant had a dui I wouldn't take him. Lets face it, most can handle a beer or two better than a couple lines of cocaine or couple joints of pot.

Many jobs that a DFWP test you for alcohol also ask you when your last drink was at the time of testing. So if you come up positive for alcohol and you lie your job chances die which is fair.