amphibian, on 26 April 2018 - 09:20 PM, said:
Alternative Goose, on 26 April 2018 - 07:46 PM, said:
QuickTidal, on 26 April 2018 - 06:24 PM, said:
Cosby guilty. Faces up to 30 years.
Personally I am not in favor of jail sentences that are that long but in the case of Cosby, that's all good. I hope he dies in prison.
What do you think is an appropriate maximum sentence for multiple sexual assaults? Murder?
I'm not asking in an attacking manner. There's a real conversation to be had in how society punishes something like this.
It's a tough question because in some cases, like Cosby, the act was so deliberate, on going and heinous that you just want to throw the person into a pit and forget the person ever existed. There's a sickness there that I don't think can be changed.
But like what Worry mentioned above, prison sentences should be about justice, not karma or revenge. More important, I believe that prison should be about reform and re-education, not punishment. Punishing somebody with a 30 year sentence rather than say a 3 year sentence does not make the crime go away or heal any wounds. That's not what a victim wants to hear but from a societal perspective, it's a waste of time and resources to lock somebody up for 30 years (unless you're running a sweat shop but I hear America has that down).
In terms of crime and punishment, ridiculously long sentences like 30 years for a senior citizen or 500 years or 12 consecutive life sentences, etc. are about sending a signal to the rest of society. Don't rape, murder, kidnap, etc. because the crime is very severe. But that kind of warning doesn't actually work beyond a certain limit. The very hardcore criminals will do their time if they believe the risk is worth it, the urge is pressing enough or their honor/loyalty dictates it. Drug addiction, desperation or anger, will make people do fucked up shit.
In Denmark the maximum prison sentences are typically around 12-16 years. Certain kinds of crime, like murder, drug dealing, arson etc. can get those sentences. That's the maximum amount of years served but in the case of a "life in prison" sentence it can be extended again and again. For crimes that get a life sentence, there is typically a re-evalutation or re-assessement of the persons character and danger to society at the end of such a sentence.
Few people in Denmark ever actually serve so long sentences. Famously a guy who shot 4 cops in the 70s served over 30 years. Peter Madsen, the Uboat killer who's currently making global headlines, will also likely serve the rest of his life in prison.
But the point is that the person being punished is not given up on.
10 years in prison changes a person. Especially for the very young offenders. Think about the kind of person you are now and how you acted and behaved 10 years ago. What you believed about yourself and society. How will you have changed 10 years from now?
If you put a criminal in a productive, creative environment during their sentence and offer them the chance to re-educate themselves, re-evaluate their actions, chances are that this person will be a different person 10 years on. If you just throw them into a pen, tell them their lives are over and they're going to serve 30 years with a thousand other animals, the results are less happy.
In my opinion there should be a constant yearly evaluation of prisoners where they attend counselling sessions and get proper psychological evaluations, so that the prison system gets an idea of the progress the prisoner is making towards actually becoming reformed.
Danish prisons aren't perfect but are generally a lot more open and progressive compared to America's penal system and that makes me grateful. I get no joy out of thinking about people living out their lives in a cell.
That said. In my heart there's also a very conservative part of me that thinks some crimes are actually unforgivable. Unrepentant career criminals, organized crime members, repeat offenders that have killed or raped more than once, etc. These people I think you should just be executed to save money and time but that's just the communist in me. Why waste a prison cell on them.
This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 27 April 2018 - 06:22 AM
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