We really need to develop a coherent set of positions on criminal justice at some point. It’s an enormous, everyday issue, and there’s this constant ping ponging between “we need to abolish prisons now” and “obviously this serious crime deserves prison time at minimum.”
It’s of course not always the same people making the two comments, but as a group, leftists are all over the map.
There’s plenty of little social and bureaucratic annoyances that can be levied on someone until they show up. Don’t go to re-education? You’re not allowed to buy liquor till you do, or you’re suspended from hookup apps, or your money’s no good at festivals and sports events. Non-carceral, non-fine penalties that are still enough of a social annoyance to be worth biting the bullet and taking care of.
It is hard to thread the needle between recognizing “retributive justice” is generally just morally wrong and the idea that systemically you probably need some sort of negative consequences available to help shape societal behaviors
Prison abolition isn’t “prison is bad,” it’s “prison should be abolished.” Even in the most generous reading, it’s “prison should be used as an absolute last resort,” which means wildly different things to different people.
All I’m saying is we should develop a coherent position on such a common issue.
In the same way that it will take time to advance society to a moneyless classless one, I can imagine that full prison abolition would take societal structures to be developed before it is fully realized.
We really need to develop a coherent set of positions on criminal justice at some point. It’s an enormous, everyday issue, and there’s this constant ping ponging between “we need to abolish prisons now” and “obviously this serious crime deserves prison time at minimum.”
It’s of course not always the same people making the two comments, but as a group, leftists are all over the map.
Prison is for executives. Reeducation is for people.
The issues with re-education are:
There’s plenty of little social and bureaucratic annoyances that can be levied on someone until they show up. Don’t go to re-education? You’re not allowed to buy liquor till you do, or you’re suspended from hookup apps, or your money’s no good at festivals and sports events. Non-carceral, non-fine penalties that are still enough of a social annoyance to be worth biting the bullet and taking care of.
The correct response to this incident is executing Elon musk
It is hard to thread the needle between recognizing “retributive justice” is generally just morally wrong and the idea that systemically you probably need some sort of negative consequences available to help shape societal behaviors
Here’s my position
Prison abolition isn’t “prison is bad,” it’s “prison should be abolished.” Even in the most generous reading, it’s “prison should be used as an absolute last resort,” which means wildly different things to different people.
All I’m saying is we should develop a coherent position on such a common issue.
In the same way that it will take time to advance society to a moneyless classless one, I can imagine that full prison abolition would take societal structures to be developed before it is fully realized.
Needs to be the
smiley for this one