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Re:Study: All non-violent criminals jailed on minor drug off... by i_love_limes on Monday January 11, 2021 @12:57PM (#25732863)
You started off with the idea that research papers "can't tell you what should be done", which it seems like you disagree with now?

> 'Discussion' is normally an invitation to scientific discussion, not a political one

To think that those are so distinct is perhaps naive.

Thanks for the link, it does seem to be a call to action as you said, but backed by many studies across many disciplines. Which would make it both a scientific and political.

Re:Study: All non-violent criminals jailed on minor drug off... by oytis on Monday January 11, 2021 @03:18PM (#25735910)
It was more meant as an imperative, as in, "a president can't despise his own citizens", even though we empirically know it's not true, but...

To me is a huge abuse of the authority of science. The results of science normally lie above any democratic discussion. No mater how you vote and what your values are COVID-19 exists, and global warming exists either. If you publish an opinion piece - even if it's a well-informed opinion - as a scientific paper, you are basically saying "here's what the policy should be, and you're not entitled to discuss it, because we know better".

I'm not against scientists having an informed opinion an political matter, and I'm not even against scientific journals publishing opinions if they consider them important enough, but there should be a distinction in this case between the part where science is published and the opinion column.

Re:Study: All non-violent criminals jailed on minor drug off... by i_love_limes on Monday January 11, 2021 @05:39PM (#25738641)
They do that already... Distinguishing between 'results' and 'discussion'...