So to answer your sneakily worded question (throwing in the word violent like some kind of gotcha for the first time): I personally don't want more people in prison because I think it is wasteful both in terms of capital and in terms of human experience, there are proven better alternatives like rehabilitation that work for most people and have significantly better outcomes, and finally because the united states prison system is effectively captured by corporate interests which is antithetical to a society that should be against cruel punishments.

Why are you putting words in my mouth?

In my opinion the problem is extreme sentences for non-violent crimes and a society that encourages recidivism by excluding the possibility for felons to re-enter society.

Why are you putting words in my mouth?

You are hysterical.

If someone knows they can rob people and get away with it, why would they do honest work for a living?

What is your solution to prevent crime without incarceration as a possible outcome for people breaking the law… especially those who do it repeatedly? It’s easy to talk down to solutions being used today, but without offering up a realistic alternative, this provides no value.

I know this is a wild idea, but what if they had better options than career criminal for a living?

Americans are so invested in the penalties they can’t imagine the incentives approach.

Maybe we just incarcerate you permanently once you have 31 arrests

They’re just a lot rarer than you imagine.

There are already incentives for honest work… a paycheck, benefits, etc. Not to mention being a net positive to society. There is also the option to start a business, which has unlimited upside.

Some people put a lot of effort into breaking the law and making life worse for other people. If that effort was directed in a positive direction, they could be successful, without being a criminal.

This also goes for the white collar criminals that get a pass while running large companies or governments. If those efforts were directed in a better direction, life would also get better for everyone.

I wish there was as much sympathy for the victims as the criminals.

It's not Americans generally speaking, it's a vocal minority of white supremacist fascists.

The average drug dealer struggles to keep a minimum wage job.

> We know this because we have survey data on convicted criminals.

We know otherwise because the US isn't the only country in the world, and places that focus on rehabilitation and job training have dramatically lower recidivism rates.

When did I say there should be no penalty for crime? When did I say there should be no penalty for a career of crime?

> What is your solution to prevent crime without incarceration

When did I say we should eliminate incarceration?

You're putting words in my mouth. You're creating a strawman.

What does crime mean to you?

What does crime look like?

What sorts of people commit crimes? Why do they commit crimes? What crimes do they commit?

So what should the penalty be?

> The base assumption is slavery is wrong.

Do you disagree that slavery is wrong?

You continue to dodge my question about the alternative to incarceration, when we continue to have significant numbers of repeat offenders. You know what I’m asking, yet continue to try and distract from it by nitpicking semantics. I don’t think you have an answer.

There are plenty of reasons. Mass incarcertaion is a strategy, and it's unique to the US.

If you're really curious, a good entry point is the film "13th".

As a third person observing this conversation, you seem neither curious nor interested in learning why someone might think of US mass incarceration in such strong terms.

The answers are out there, if you actually cared to find them.