Posted on 11/28/2007 5:24:39 AM PST by libstripper
According to a brand-new and extensively covered study by the JFA Institute, a George Soros funded group, the U.S. prison system doesn’t deter crime and is "a costly and harmful failure.”
Prison is supposedly so useless that the U.S. prison population could be cut in half with no effect on crime.
This distrust of prison reducing crime is not new, but many have a hard time believing the simplest rule of economics: if you make something more costly, people do less of it. People accept that this principle applies to what we buy in grocery stores, but not to “bad” things that people might do.
So how plausible is deterrence? Let us take a couple examples from sports.
When college basketball’s Atlantic Coast Conference increased the number of referees per game from two to three in 1978, the number of fouls dropped by 34 percent. Why? Basketball players fouled less often because they were more likely to get caught. In fact, the actual decline in fouling was probably even larger, since fouls that may have gone unnoticed by two referees were more likely to be caught when there were three officials.
Baseball players respond no differently. The American League has more batters hit by pitchers than the National League, but this difference only occurred after 1973, when the American League removed its pitchers from the batting lineup in favor of designated hitters. Since American League pitchers no longer worried that they themselves would be hit in retaliation if they hit an opposing batter, they began throwing more beanballs.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Having been in jail a few times myself I wouldn’t call it fear but I do know that I don’t want to go back.
Fear of prison does deter allot of crime, but not everyone fears it. Decent people fear it, the turds on the street dont. Prison is supposed to be a punishment.
If the death penalty deters crime, then super! There again, it is a punishment.
1) Put them in prison.
2) Kill them
3) Do nothing, and shrug off the whole concept of "people do bad things".
If putting people in prison is foolish, then I guess we're down to just two choices ...
“Does the Fear of Jail Actually Prevent Crime?”
Is the author referring to the old Graybar Hotel? Three hots and a cot, complete health coverage, gym facilities, library privileges and vocational education - all funded by John Q. Taxpayer... of course it deters crime! Who in their right mind would want to be subjected to that sort of torment???
Not if your last name is Clinton.
Well there Soros the crime rate started to fall in this country when three strikes became fashionable. Does your study see no correlation? If not you need new researchers.
I prefer number 2. Saves money.
4.) Brand them on the forehead.
5.) Cane them.
6.) Sent them to the principal’s office.
Yep - if they make jail an actual punishment instead of a time-out, it might make a better deterrent. No TV, no smokes, no booze, no drugs, no sex, o cosmetic surgery, just a Spartan, life-sustaining existence with daily hardships like hard labor, etc., and it just might do what it was designed to do before the ACLU got hold of it.
The fear of the DEATH PENALTY doesn't prevent crime.
The only thing that prevents crime is a dead criminal.
Not as much as fear of a bullet.
Solution: put the basketball and baseball teams in prison.
In our society, prison only deters those who are inclined to obey the law anyway. Criminals think we are dummies for obeying the law, because many of them understand that if they break the law they will either not get caught, will have a lengthy delay until punished, and punishment is not likely to be severe.
I was under the impression that having criminals in an effective prison was 100% effective at keeping them from committing a crime against society for the duration of the sentence. If prisons are not reducing crime enough, the problem must be that the sentences are too short.
Well, jail time should be a serious deterrent to anyone with half a brain and and ounce of consciousness.
“Three hots and a cot, complete health coverage, gym facilities, library privileges and vocational education - all funded by John Q. Taxpayer... of course it deters crime! Who in their right mind would want to be subjected to that sort of torment???”
I think you’re right.
Having visited several prisons in the NC department of corrections system, I can tell you that the prisoners have living conditions better than I did in the military.
I don’t think they fear it. It’s just a change of address for many.
Alabama had it right when they brought back chain gangs in the 80’s. (That wasn’t PC so it didn’t last long)
Works for me...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.