Is it more important to punish past crimes or to prevent future crimes, if you could only do one?

[Anonymous]

I don't think that punishing past crimes is nearly as important as preventing future crimes. Looking forward to me is a much more viable strategy and much more rewarding. The idea that punishing past crimes will somehow prevent future crimes has unfortunately proven to be false for the most part.

[NathanDavis]

I will take your question with absolutism, for simplicity...

if ONE of these are going to be actually stopped completely, then I would go with PREVENTING future crimes, because almost all for of crimes, do have victims

and to spare all future victims takes priority...

to punish all past crimes might bring a sense of justice, but it will NOT STOP future victimization of future criminals and crimes

[slatyb]

I agree with you.

[Anonymous]

Prevent future ones

[Asker]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but can you explain to me why you believe that to be the more important choice?

[MrChinaski]

There's punishment as deterrent to the individual, punishment as deterrent to the community, punishment as retribution, punishment as removing the capacity to do harm during a period of incarceration.

Which is a long way of saying... I don't really understand your question.

[KostasKouvalis]

Future. The past can't be undone, but the future can be prevented

[DryGermanGuy]

We can do both and we do both, so the question is moot.

[Asker]

The question is not mood. Your answer is evasive. stick to the parameters and tell me which one you think is more important.

[lilBigPotato]

I disagree. Punishing past crimes automatically prevents future crimes.

[Asker]

There is a tremendous amount of research to prove that it does not. Do you have any idea what the recidivism rate among former prisoners is in the United States?

[lilBigPotato]

Unless it's 100%, which it is not, it proves my point. And even if it is 100%, it still does become someone in jail has it much more difficult to commit crimes. Just because there is an issue with the American system doesn't mean you shouldn't punish any crimes. If people know that a crime won't get punished, it will also create more incentive to commit more crimes. So just knowing you might get punished prevents already some.

How things should be implemented is a completely different story. But my point is that your question is flawed because punishing automatically prevents crime too to a certain extent.

[Asker]

Show me some data that supports your points. I have not, for instance, maintained that preventing future crime does anything else except preventing future crime. I could try to make the point that knowing that the police will come after you may prevent people from committing crimes in the future. I think, to some extent, it does, but I don't have data to prove it. I'm not necessarily saying that it's even true. You, on the other hand, seem very certain of your points, so show me some data.

[lilBigPotato]

You have your data already. You said

"Do you have any idea what the recidivism rate among former prisoners is in the United States?"

If people commit more crimes after getting out of jail, it automatically means that putting a person in jail prevents crime during that period.

[Asker]

It doesn't automatically mean anything. I don't think you know what you're talking about. You know what recidivism is?

[lilBigPotato]

I know what it is and it doesn't matter what what the rate is in the US because the US isn't the only place in the world and your question didn't mention the US to begin with. Different countries have different levels of success, but they all have one thing in common - they punish crimes. If you have an issue with it in the US, it's a problem with your system, not the fact that you punish primes. Take for example Scandinavian countries. Norway has a rate that is less than half of the US.

Anyway, because there isn't really a country with zero punishment, it's also difficult to find any meaningful studies on this. But there are examples that show exactly why no one goes this route. Look into the Montreal Police Strike from 1969. I have more fun things to do than research this for you, but you will be able to see that the police strike was followed by an immediate surge of criminal activities, including riots, multiple bank robberies and a lot more.

[Asker]

Yes, there are terrible problems with the system in the U. S., and Norway arguably has the very best system. I realize there's very little data, but you shouldn't assert things without having some data to support what you're saying. Most countries that use harsh punishment, the U. S. included, do so because they fear incurring the wrath of a general population hell-bent on vengeance and routinely conflate vengeance, punishment, and justice. Vengeance and punishment are not the same things as justice.

[shish_kebab]

Potato is right. I know a guy who was down for 47 years for Bank robbery. During those 47 years he didn't commit any more Bank robberies.

[Asker]

@shish_kebab well, I agree. Keeping people in prison makes sure that they don't commit any crimes, at least not the kind that you are considering. I worked in a prison as a prison doctor. I can tell you that a lot of crimes occur in there, committed by both the staff and by the inmates, but I guess you wouldn't count those. Perhaps your basic point is if we keep people in prison forever, they won't commit any crimes against you.

[shish_kebab]

He wasn't in there forever but he did rob about a hundred banks.

I also worked in a prison. So what's your plan to rehabilitate people who don't want to be rehabilitated?

[Asker]

@shish_kebab what prison did you work in, in what state, and what was your job? Let me guess, you were a guard... oops... a.. correctional officer, right?

[shish_kebab]

Right. And some prisoners begged to stay.

[Asker]

@shish_kebab what state were you in when you supposedly worked in a prison, or what position did you have? I still think you were a guard.

[Asker]

Anybody who had spent 10 or 20 years in a prison would beg to stay if the alternative was to go out on the street, where they had no relatives, no friends, no jobs, no place to live, and surefire homelessness. Looking at them, at least in the prison, you got three meals a day, such as they were, and a place to sleep. Not to mention the fact that you were very useful to it.

[shish_kebab]

You think I was a guard? Could it be because I told you I was? 🤣

[Asker]

@shish_kebab no, it could be because you behave like one. You Didn't tell me.

[shish_kebab]

Try and keep up. 😋

[Asker]

Okay, so I missed the fact that you added at the very end of it right? Which actually could have been an interpreted several ways. Cheap way to sneakily reveal your origins. But thanks a lot for letting me know who you and what you are and why you act the way you do. I've worked with plenty of prison guards when I was a prison doctor. I know all about you people.

[shish_kebab]

Sneak? You're an anonymous idiot. 😅

[Asker]

Cry more