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What do you think prisons should be used for?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
What crimes do you think warrant a prison sentence? Do you think prison should act as a deterrent, a punishment, or/and something to keep the public safe from dangerous criminals?
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Menial crimes like vandalism, burgulry (in which not too much was robbed) and ABH should be punished by community service and a fine.
More serious crimes like GBH, sexual assault, murder, gun crimes should be put in prison, put into rehabilitaion programs and forced to do work in prison.
In which the burglary was in a store not a private home. Someone who'll break into my house I'd rather have locked up. Someone who'll break into a shop or place of business is less dangerous, in my opinion.
Any offence of carrying an illegal weapon in public should result in prison.
Fraud should result in prison, especially if the victim was old or infirm.
Repeat offenders should be placed in prison if every other sentence does not work.
Antisocial crimes in general - vandalism, etc...
Things like minor speeding, small robberies (not where threatening people is involved though, stuff like stealing a couple of breads from a small closed shop) and so forth shouldn't warrant prison.
"Lifers" and those on long-term sentances should have a constructive days work, while those at the lower end should receive some kind of rehabilitation to prevent reoffending. Any drug addict should receive compulsory drugs rehab, while sexual offenders should receive psychiatric care.
In general though 65% rehab - 35% punishment
But criminals like paedophiles and murders should be given life sentences (actually meaning life) and should be made to repay the damage they have caused families. They should be given jobs all day and have no rest of the wicked. Prison should be such a terrible place that they will never ever think about committing a crime again. This should help to turn away future criminals in this field.
On the whole, those who do not have life sentences, prison should be able rehabilitation and punishment. The latter being the most important though. Prisons should help make these people they aspire to be instead of being locked up all of the time. It is a cry for help therefore prison should help to accommodate this.
Text talk in general should carry that.
Prison should never be a deterrent. That's brutal. There isn't even evidence that it works. Human psychology doesn't work that way. And even though, the sentence a person receives should be based solely on their own conduct and not on possible future ones by other people.
I thought of something that I hadn't thought of before when reading your question. I don't know how much I agree with it, but I'll say it anyway .
The first 80% of a sentence should be served in the most hellish conditions imaginable. No rooms with televisions, no breaks outside - hard graft and a dark room to sleep in.
The final 20% should be used for genuine rehabilitation - to teach basic skills, to teach civilised interaction with other people
On the whole, prison should be a nasty and hellish place - but it isn't. People should be scared of prison, it should be(and needs to be!) the ultimate deterrent. I've come away thinking that I've stayed in worse bed and breakfasts, and it really shouldn't be like that.
How do you repay the "damage" of murdering someone?
And by "murderers", do you mean all murderers, or just the ones you see in the paper? Should the woman who has put up with 30 years of abuse and snaps one day, stabbing her husband, be given the same sentence as someone who batters someone to death for kicks?
And even with paedophiles, should the man who puts his hand down a young girl's knickers be given the same sentence as someone who rapes his daughter every night for 10 years?
It's not so easy as you make out. If you have mandatory sentences you end up making crime worse- if you're gonna get the same sentence for a feel as for a rape, you might as well get your money's worth and rape the girl, hadn't you?
Don't worry, full-lifers will find it hard to commit another crime;)
I said murderers as a general term as I am not going to sit here and type up all the differing types of murderers and individual circumstances that would be stupid.
No of course she shouldn’t. I thought it was common sense that sentences were given on the individual merit?
Both are relates but of course the latter is much more serious and would receive a harsher sentences. Yet again this is common sense. But would both get a life sentence meaning forever? The latter would certainly, not so sure about the former, but a long sentence will be given as it will never ever be tolerated.
That is a disturbing comment in away. A human shouldn’t even think about raping, never mind going all the way because sentences are the same.
To conclude, I would introduce guidelines for sentences but they would be a hell of a lot harsher than they currently are as I believe in punishment.
Of course there are differing cases and all should not be tied to the same brush.
Good as they’d never get out again, never!
You're the one who's saying "all paedophiles and murderers" should be given life sentences without the possibility of parole, not me.
But on the subject of murder, the woman who snaps IS given the same sentence as the man who murders for kicks- she is given life imprisonment. That is the only sentence you can get for murder. She is one of the lifers for whom you think life should mean life.
I don't think you would make them harsher if you actually knew what they were. For many classes of violent offence you can already be locked up for an indefinite period, for instance, and that is much stricter than any mandatory prison sentence.
Interestingly enough, judges normally give sentences about 20%-30% more severe than ordinary members of the public would, if the public are given the full facts of the case.
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