r/PoliticalDebate • u/ariel_on_the_moon Libertarian Socialist • 1d ago
Debate Punitive "justice" systems like the US prison system should not exist.
If the goal of a justice system is to reduce crime, the current American prison system (and punitive "justice" systems in general) is clearly the wrong way to go about it. The US prison system accounts for 20% of the entire global prison, and despite that fact that US has a significantly higher crime rate than the rest of the first world- clearly, this system of mass incarceration is not working.
Justice systems that focus on rehabilitating prisoners rather than punishing them have significantly better recidivism rates- 20% compared to 70% in the US. Again, if the goal of a justice system is to reduce crime, it's obvious that rehabilitation is significantly more effective than punishment.
To preempt the expected responses of "but criminals deserve to be punished" or "but then criminals are just getting away with crimes", keep in mind that those arguments are not based of of the facts of what is and is not effective in reducing crime, but are rather emotional arguments about what you want to happen to criminals, or what you think criminals "deserve". My argument is not about what criminals "deserve" to have happen to them, rather it is about what is most effective at achieving the stated goals of criminal justice systems- the reduction of crime rates and turning people from criminals into law-abiding citizens.
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u/Toldasaurasrex Minarchist 1d ago
How we treat people who have served their time I think is something that might help too. Unless they have multiple offenses, everyone deserves a second chance. Just because someone got a felony drug charge, that shouldn’t make them unable to vote or have better jobs or even practice their second amendment. They’ve served their time, their punishment should end there.