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Comment by jcutrell | Hacker News Reader

Deterrent is, I think traditionally at least, considered “negative reinforcement.” So, “I don’t want to end up like that person, so I won’t do what they did to end up in their situation.”

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Just because it's the traditional view doesn't mean it's correct, or that it works. Crimes like drug use have shown great benefit from using rehabilitation over punishment, as proven in Portugal's long test of decriminalization and rehab. Rates of drug use and diseases like HIV have dropped significantly.

I agree drug use is better treated with addiction therapy than prison.

But the article in question is about a human trafficker. How does giving a human trafficker "education" (free college?) deter them from doing more trafficking?

I wouldn't assume that human traffickers are proud of what they do, or that they enjoy it. I guess the question is why does someone get into a hard criminal lifestyle like that in the first place. Maybe education and opportunity are the answers to that.

Not at all. You should look up the definition of negative reinforcement. It doesn’t operate as social demonstration, the way prison is supposed to work according to those who advance the deterrence myth. Now if the claim is about recidivism that may apply to negative reinforcement. But as others pointed out that’s not usually what’s meant by deterrent. We mean a deterrent even to those who have not been incarcerated.

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