I suspect a big part of the problem is that people who advocate for improved social services also seem to uncannily be opposed to any sort of criminal punishments at all.
It makes it hard for the average person to take these suggestions seriously.
It makes it hard for the average person to take these suggestions seriously.
I've never once met anyone who felt that way. I'd actually like to have the chance. People might not want criminals tortured, might not want people imprisoned unnecessarily, might not want people arrested for things that should never have been crimes in the first place, but I'm pretty skeptical that there's any substantial number of people who don't want to see serial killers kept away from the public or who feel that all crimes should go unaddressed entirely.
That's not punishment, that's social risk management. Punishment is the deprivation of dignity which the system imposes. Those cells should be a minimum of two-star hotel, the doors should be mostly controlled by the occupants, they should be treated in a dignified manner like any member of the public, they should be paid competitive wages for their work, any housing and restitution charges on those wages should be capped at 1/2 and commissary must charge median prices so as to encourage savings and financial independence on release, etc.
There's also eliminating custodial sentencing for acute nonviolent crimes.
My father was a two-time decorated veteran. I was a military wife a lot of years.
Vitamins for convicts could save taxpayers money
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16140867
My decade as a fugitive
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21481540
Both have comments by me if anyone wants to know what I think and not what people want to imagine about me.