I agree with the main points of your post, that the situation in our prisons doesn't look good, and that it is hard to determine where a lot of our prisoners come from. Part of the problem, I believe, is how we deal with "criminals". Just what makes a person a criminal, and what kind of rationale is used to determine how long they are sentenced?
This is an interesting story I heard from a friend a while back. His cousin had been asked a favor by a friend; she was to give him a lift, just a short ride, only about a half hour. When they crossed state lines and entered the town the cousin's friend had been asked to go to, they were pulled over by the police. Both of them were arrested, and it turns out that a warrant had been put out for the friend, as it was revealed that he was a fairly "big-time" drug dealer. The two were charged, one with the possession and distribution of illicit substances, the other with the voluntary transport of a wanted man. The drug dealer got 3 years, the woman 9. Arbitrarily, she was given a sentence three times longer than the sentence of her friend, since the minimum requirements of the law said that she must get at least 9, whereas the drug dealer hired lawyers that got his sentence knocked down to 3. So, morally, what's the bigger crime, selling dangerous drugs to people of all ages, or transporting a drug dealer who is also a friend when you are unaware of why he is asking you for a ride? I find this to be a failure of our law system, that the minimum requirements imposed by precedents remove any opportunity to truly judge on a case by case basis. This woman clearly did not deserve nine years in jail, morally, but she was forced to serve them and is now considered a convict, legally.
It's cases like this that build up our prisons. Relatively innocent people locked away for an arbitrary number of years so the people on the outside can feel a sense of security coupled with vengeance. If only we could do away with such petty feelings towards those who wronged us, then maybe we'd realize that the cousin was innocent and the drug dealer needed a better education system so s to get a well-paying job.
Are there some criminals who are truly impossible to rehabilitate?
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