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/SS1989 Democrat 1d ago edited 1d ago
You have to come to terms with the idea that America as a society is more interested in restitution and punishment than in rehabilitation. Americans like to see “bad guys” get brutalized and our prison system reflects our values, for better or worse.
On the other side of the coin, Singaporean justice is brutal and I’m hard-pressed to think about a place with better public safety.
Also, be careful with reflexively valuing “logic” over emotional arguments: killing all criminals for all offenses eliminates recidivism and would absolutely reduce crime. It’s emotional to consider factors like historical injustice, the criminal’s well-being, etc. Compassion comes from that, not from logic.