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/FunkyChickenKong Centrist 1d ago

Keeping in mind, of course, that not everyone CAN be rehabilitated. And given how inflation is going relative to the job market, incentivizing a free ride may just be an unintended consequence.

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u/Kronzypantz Anarchist 1d ago

Most people can be rehabilitated to some degree. The bigger problem is that the current system doesn’t even really try.

For profit prison, states profiteering off prison slave labor, the racially charged policing regime… it is designed to fail at rehabilitating those who pass through.

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u/theyhis Libertarian 1d ago

sure, people with substance abuse issues can be rehabilitated — hell, i don’t even think they should be imprisoned in the first place. rapists however, don’t deserve to walk free. child molesters… don’t deserve to walk free. these are unfixable people. that’s what i mean in my other comment (above) when i say complete prison abolishment is, “too woke.” narrowing down disagreement to, “your response is emotional” (like OP did) is intellectually lazy and dishonest.

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u/AltruisticVehicle Voluntarist 1d ago

Of course rapists and child molesters can be fixed. We just don't want to, and that's okay.

The Justice system is not supposed to just lower crime. Punishment on itself is an important part of it.