Posted on 06/04/2012 10:29:30 AM PDT by presidio9
Raise the bar for conviction in the US.
Caning for lessor infractions.
For serious offenses: Rape, Murder, Attempted Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Torture, Ongoing Criminal Enterprise, Drug Dealing, extortion, serious political corruption, second DUI etc. - After conviction, mandatory review, then execution within 30 days. If necessary, death by crucifixion for certain groups like MS13 and muslim terrorists.
No more prisons, vast sums of money saved and a crime rate 1/10th of what it is now. It's very simple.
Nifster summarized what the rest of you said.
And to you all, I say this: You would argue unlimited punishments in *THIS* legal environment??!? Where the sale of incandescent light bulbs is illegal; where New York City bans 'too large' soft drinks; where failure to pay for the individual mandate in Obamacare could be declared a criminal act???!?
Well God Bless ya, then. May you never feel the lash, especially this particlar one.
Me, I'll labor on two fronts, one of them being, that we uphold the Constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishments.
OK, so why not put them to death in cases where they've murdered someone, etc.? Wouldn't that be less cruel and unusual punishment? At the very least, it would be quick and painless versus possibly going crazy or time.
Besides, aren't those that kill people generally insane, perhaps not legally, already?
I’ll go out on a limb and say you will not be thrown into Solitary for owning a light bulb. But if you are assaulting other prisoners or guards, you probably shouldn’t be around other prisoners or guards.
Prisoners don’t get put into solitary because they’re nice people. I’m not terribly concerned with what happens to them.
You are correct, I have worked in corrections and even a relatively brief stay in solitary can have a very detrimental effect.
One reason I believe, is that your usual criminal is ill equipped for introspection or penitence. Placed in solitary he is completely without the inner resources to both deal with it or benefit from it.
I will defer to Justice Frankfurter's concurrence in United States v. Rabinowitz:
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people."
The point is, we should care about how prisoners are treated not because of who the prisoners are, but because of who is responsible for the treatment of prisoners (e.g., the government). There are cases where solitary confinement is appropriate - violence towards other prisoners and guards is a prime example. According to this article and others, however, solitary confinement is also being increasingly used for minor prison . That is arguably unconstitutional (cruel & unusual punishment), and we should be concerned any time the government violates the Constitution, even when it does so to "not very nice people."
Prisoners don’t get put into solitary because they’re nice people.
Excellent observation and very true.
Life sucks when you make bad calls. It’s nice that he’s trying to change, but prices must be paid. I had a lot of bad decisions come back and bite my butt 5 to 10 years later.
One of the early prisons in this country was all solitary confinement. They moved away from it because of the space problems. It’s not cruel or unusual it’s punishment, something they earned by breaking laws. Maybe if they were a little better at being by themselves they would have avoided prison.
Good. Punishment is useless if its not “cruel” and “unusual.”
Just make certain that there is a sturdy fixture in the ceiling and that the sheets are nice strong...
When I’m Dictator, you’re getting drafted for the head of the Department of Justice...
When reading the above, do you get the feeling the hard number of 80,000 is inflated by 'prisons that consist of single cells'? Maybe the equivalent of 'private room' which is NOT the same as solitary confinement? I generally don't trust liberals as they freely lie in the name of furthering what they see as a 'good cause'.
You are incorrect, if I remember my Bill of Rights correctly.
Amendment 8: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.So, if you wish something different, you may need to fly against the will of the Founding Fathers.
It seems ALL people have a need for social interaction, and the deprivation of that is akin to depriving a person of food, only slower and ‘only’ resulting in insanity.
With this administration, I'm not willing to stand with you on that assertion. When true dictatorships form, the usual response to any violation is over-the-top. OTrauma is nothing if not desirous of a dictatorship, with him as the Mugabe.
But if you are assaulting other prisoners or guards, you probably shouldn’t be around other prisoners or guards.
I see your point and agree. However, we are creative people. Can we not think of other methods of securing the rights of other inmates, and of course the guards, without torture?
This credibility of this phenomenon is not based on prisoner testimony. It is based on observation of nearly 100% of prisoners, other people (an example is Terry Anderson, Iranian hostage), and test subjects, and has been observed and documented since the 1800's.
Kinda already is.
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