Comments on: The Torah’s Call for Cushy Prisons

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:08:15 +0000

A relevant article: http://www.thenation.com/article/170815/how-mandatory-minimums-forced-me-send-more-1000-nonviolent-drug-offenders-federal-pri#

By: SUNDAY EVENING GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit

SUNDAY EVENING GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:22:47 +0000

[...] The Torah’s Call for Cushy Prisons – Katherine Infantine, First Thoughts [...]

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:34:50 +0000

Micha Elyi -

There’s hardly a social pathology that was worse during the Great Depression than during the Clintopia.

Racism and sexism? In any case, while unemployment by itself doesn't predict crime rates, there's some evidence that some types of government support do reduce crime. In any case, the current economic situation hasn't led to a crime wave. There are a lot of influences, though, so it's hard to say exactly why.

By: jason taylor

jason taylor — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:10:49 +0000

The presumption that poverty is the cause of violence must imply that peasants are more likely to be violent then aristocrats. Is that in fact the case?

By: Micha Elyi

Micha Elyi — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:21:25 +0000

"...I would think that if people had most of their needs met by welfare, they would be less likely to turn to crime. " --Patrick (5:54pm)

Under what circumstances would you think that? Far fewer people turned to crime during the Great Depression than today or during the 1990s boom years with their much lower unemployment rates. There's hardly a social pathology that was worse during the Great Depression than during the Clintopia.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 21:54:14 +0000

Adam, I haven’t actually studied it, but I would think that if people had most of their needs met by welfare, they would be less likely to turn to crime. Poverty and crime usually go hand in hand, no? I’m not saying that is necessary a good idea, since it sort of amounts to a bribe.

By: A Random Friar

A Random Friar — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 04:16:18 +0000

I am all in favor of a more humane treatment of prisoners, and how this would lead to greater reformation, rather than recidivism.

My big question is, what of the gangs? With the size, scope, and sophistication in the US, where gangs can be run from the inside, how do we allow greater freedom, without facilitating gang activity? This is where I see a more open campus as problematic.

By: Adam Baum

Adam Baum — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 04:00:48 +0000

“Scandinavia has a generous welfare system that would difficult, to say the least, to implement in the US, that likely does much to reduce crime.”

Explain this.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:55:44 +0000

I suppose this is a reasonable line of thinking. The problem though is how do we actually accomplish it? Israel (I’ve read that Scandinavian countries have similar systems) can apparently afford it and have worked out some way to deal with violence among inmates. These countries though has a very different society, smaller, more homogenous, with less crime. Scandinavia has a generous welfare system that would difficult, to say the least, to implement in the US, that likely does much to reduce crime.

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:39:19 +0000

There should probably be a link to this recent First Thoughts article.