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Seems like a natural consequence of the 13th amendment. Why would you make it easier for an escaped slave to remain free? There are literally shareholders who have a vested interest in recidivism.
Imagine investing in for-profit prisons, as a regular person. You're hoping that society tears itself apart so you can watch line go up. Monstrous indeed.
In the US, all felony convictions come with a lifetime sentence. It's just that the sentence usually only includes prison time at the beginning.
It's pretty fucked up, especially considering how many victimless crimes are felonies.
You would think that an idea to reduce recidivism and thus reduce crime, like rehabilitation over punishment, would be popular in a democratic system, it's a real problem that it isn't. A bunch of states are dealing with this as there's a backlash for bail reform.
People just think punishing crime more reduces crime more and it's not (necessarily) correct. And in a democratic system we reward what people think is true over what is true.
People just think punishing crime more reduces crime more and it’s not (necessarily) correct. And in a democratic system we reward what people think is true over what is true.
This is one of those rare instances that (to them) punishment is openly the point. It doesn't matter that there are ways to save money and increase everyone's quality of life in the process. And it doesn't hurt that an entire industry has grown to steal money from the state to punish these people and a small portion is put back into advertising/lobbying to make sure the cycle continues.
You can thank the Prison Industrial Complex for sponsoring the Republican "Tough on Crime" propaganda. Reactionary idiots think there's a one step solution to all of society's ills, and if it doesn't work, it's the other political party that made it fail!
Dems are fully on board with the tough on crime bullshit, even if they do stand against discriminatory punishment. They want to be tough on everyone equally.
In addition to people somewhat naturally wanting to punish crime, A lot of people like to feel superior to others in any way they can. That way they can be internally excuse their own shortcomings.
Ex: I may be unsuccessful but at least I'm not a druggie, criminal, black, or a heathen. Too many Americans would rather hate and suppress someone in different circumstances rather than help them out.
It's very sad that in the US we have a justice system for protecting the rich and a revenge system for punishing everyone else.
It's definitely not popular when prisoners are the only people we can legally treat as slaves.
I'm afraid a lot of people don't even care if it's working - they just think being "though on crime" makes society masculine and cool (and preferably white). They'd vote for it even if they knew it's bad policy.
"Now prisoner 24601...."
Your time is up and your parole's begun
I'm generally against prison for almost all offenses. There's no point to prison in America unless you just want to ensure someone suffers and is forever harmed by the state. Prison doesn't rehabilitate, it makes you into a worse person from what you need to do to survive. Prison doesn't encourage you being less of a criminal on release, it makes your life SO much harder to survive that crime is a much better option than before. Prison forces a social stigma forever through job applications and the like that ensures no one will ever forget and will treat you worse because of it. Prison and the justice system is designed to bleed money from poor people and their families so you can't even get out with a helping hand ready. Prison quality is incredibly low and practically zero Americans care about it. Just look at all the "prison rape" jokes: Americans by-and-large want prison to be tortuous due to a bloodthirsty feeling of vengeance and powerlessness.
Prison is there only to do further harm to those desperate enough to commit serious crimes in the first place. And to increase recidivism to ensure the prison industrial complex and police "unions" keep thriving. There's no point to sending 99% of criminals to prison but we have no alternatives besides mental hospitals which are not equipped to deal with a huge influx of violently disaffected people.
Your penal system is focussed on punishment whereas the European system is focussed on rehabilitation as prisoners at some point have to come back into society and you want them to behave.
On the other hand, US prisons are for profit so they have an incentive to make sure people stay longer and return faster so...
The US really is a fucked up place because of its economic incentives. I mean, the people aren't the problem, policies are.
US prisons are for profit
The US definitely has a large for-profit prison industry but it's still a minority of prisons. About 8%, to be exact.
Of course even the prisons that aren't private entities still use prisoner labor. I think the for profit prison isn't the real problem with the US. Obviously it creates messed up incentives. Private prisons fund special interest groups who for example lobby against federal legalization of marijuana. They know it would reduce the number of prisoners and therefore less reason for them to exist. But in terms of influence, they aren't the largest players.
There's a lot of jobs in prisons, courts, law enforcement, etc. And they all depend on the massive prison industrial complex. So at this point it's hard to decouple because those groups have a lot of influence, even though they aren't private for-profit entities.
The cynic in my believes that the US prison system, the system that imprisons more people both in absolute terms and per capita than almost any country in history - comparable to the USSR during their peak gulag era - is meant to keep down potentially rebellious young men. These are the primary movers of revolts and dissent. Turn them into perpetual criminals so you have justification to lock them away forever.
The passives ones don't end up in prison and are also less likely to revolt, join a radical group, etc.
This is a feature, not a bug.
Which is exactly the point. The prison system is too profitable to risk the supply of prisoners drying up.
I have a family member who got into a physical altercation with an airport employee nearly twenty years ago over the way that employee was handling his laptop. The government will have its boot on his neck for the rest of his life, even though he went to prison (it was only like six months) and completed probation. He's since tried to start multiple businesses, started a family, and in other ways moved on. He's forbidden from certain parts of society similarly to the people in this article.
It's completely ridiculous that a non-violent person could have an out-of-character outburst and be punished forever for it. But try discussing that with anyone who's advocating for crime-and-punishment policies.
Does the world have a government or did the headline perhaps forget to mention that it's referring to one particular country...?
My biggest problem with the justice system. Even a misdemeanor is a life sentence in this country.