Post by basilosaurus on Sept 11, 2023 20:13:18 GMT -5
I've watched a fair amount of I am a killer/stalker as well as other shows similar. I do think some can not be rehabilitated. True psychopaths
I also think we incarcerate way too many in drug charges.
Recently Singapore hanged a woman with intent to distribute for an amount that I think wouldn't get more than 5 years in us (I forget but looked it up at the time, maybe even 3). Uhc, un, all tried to get involved. It was the first time they'd done this in nearly 20 years. I'm absolutely not in favor of that.
Drugs, sure, rehab, 100%. But some of these pure cold killers, I'm just not sure.
Post by claudiajean on Sept 11, 2023 21:25:31 GMT -5
I do probono work with an organization that serves those that have been exonerated. This is so complicated to me- the whole system is so messed up and there are so many stories of wrongful conviction. (Please note I don’t mean Masterson.) It makes it very hard to decide where I fall on the issue; on one hand, I think some people should be locked up but I don’t see he as a society we can decide who those people should be.
I think a lot of this conversation has to do with what you think the primary purpose of prison/jail is. Rehabilitation? Punishment? Protecting society from dangerous individuals?
This is key and I think about this a lot in the context of ***TW***
...crimes that are sexual in nature that would have them added to the sex offender registry upon release. If the person is still dangerous enough that addition to the registry is necessary...then maybe they shouldn't get out at all? Because yeah, it seems like rehabilitation is less likely for such offenders. But, is that constitutional?
In CA, there actually is a Sexually Violent Predator designation for certain sex offenders, after evaluation and recommendation by 2-3 psychs, and after a bench or jury trial. These individuals are then committed involuntarily to state hospitals, to receive rehabilitation, and can petition for release every two years based on updated psych evals and another trial. Some of them stay committed decades, but these are truly the worst of the worst.
But SVPs are a small percentage of sex offenders generally. To that end, CA has moved to a tiered registration model looking at the seriousness of the offense and likelihood of recidivism so that supervision is proportionate to the probability of reoffending.
Most of you know I'm a prosecutor. So while I do believe based on my experiences that there needs to be a overhaul of rehabilitative programs in custody and of probation/parole processes, I also believe that some criminals can't or won't be rehabilitated and that some crimes deserve life w/o parole. I'm not anti-death penalty exactly for certain types of murders, but as a practical matter, the automatic appeals process for DP cases is lengthy and expensive and leaves victims' families without finality for decades, which is why I mentioned LWOP.
I was pro-death penalty in extreme cases (serial killers), but I changed my mind after reading Just Mercy. There are too many problems with the system making it unjust, and even if someone is a pyschopath, the death penalty takes such a mental toll on people working within these systems… the prison workers, lawyers, chaplains, etc. Just the idea of preparing someone for death when they are not an active threat and participating in it… it changed my perspective even for extreme, violent cases.
I definitely believe that some people are beyond rehabilitation and need kept away for life, however.
For most offenders though, prison should focus on rehabilitation.
Post by somersault72 on Sept 12, 2023 12:04:23 GMT -5
The most I've ever thought about prison is when I watched Orange is the New Black and it did make me do a lot of thinking about our prison system. I know that is not exactly real life, BUT aside from Piper most of those women had completely fucked up childhoods/grew up in poverty AND many ended up back up back in prison because they just....didn't know what to do outside of prison, not to mention having a felony on your record makes things really fucking difficult in life. My cousin did a very short stint in prison due to a drug related charge (possession, not even selling or anything) has not been able to buy a house, get credit, it was hard for her to find a job, etc because of her FELONY drug possession charge. She has been clean for at least 5 years now. I know we don't want to ruin people like Brock Turner's life but anyone else that makes a mistake, they're on their own I guess...
My sister went through two different state legal systems due to drug use and who she associated with. I saw firsthand how they only treated the addiction (if they tried that), versus the actual mental issues she had. They also gave her quite the cocktail of prescription meds. I don't think her time in prison (twice) was helpful.
She was someone that showed mental health issues young, earliest memories were probably when she was 5ish? So that probably colors my thoughts in that I'm not sure she would have ever been medicated properly and by the time her drug use created legal problems, her brain was too fried. You really could not have a productive conversation with her.
Obviously prison wasn't the place for her, but until the connection between mental health and legal troubles is an actual conversation, it's where so many end up.
The United State's prison system is barbaric. Other countries do it humanely and concentrate on rehabilitation, not just keeping humans in cells for profit and make them work for pennies an hour in jobs that produce clothing, drugs, cleaning products, etc...
The United State's prison system is barbaric. Other countries do it humanely and concentrate on rehabilitation, not just keeping humans in cells for profit and make them work for pennies an hour in jobs that produce clothing, drugs, cleaning products, etc...
Yes, the privatization of the prison system is a huge, huge part of the problem.