Re:In Norway, a Prison Built on Second Chances
by vidarh on Sunday May 31, 2015 @01:18PM
(#9634792)
I've said many times that if I was ever on a US jury (which would never happen; I'm Norwegian, living in the UK, and even if I at some point where to be resident in the US, this attitude would get me out of jury duty very quickly:),
I would have a hard time voting for a guilty plea except in the most exceptionally horrible cases, because I would find it exceptionally hard to justify making anyone suffer through the US prison system. That would include if it was a murder trial or similar.
Not only do I find the US prison system immoral for its treatment of inmates, I find it immoral for the violence it is indirectly responsible for inflicting on wider society by actively treating people in a way known to at best be ineffective, and at worst having a massively negative effect on re-offending rates.
Anyone worried about violent crime in the US should start by demanding reform of the prison system.
I would have a hard time voting for a guilty plea except in the most exceptionally horrible cases, because I would find it exceptionally hard to justify making anyone suffer through the US prison system. That would include if it was a murder trial or similar.
Not only do I find the US prison system immoral for its treatment of inmates, I find it immoral for the violence it is indirectly responsible for inflicting on wider society by actively treating people in a way known to at best be ineffective, and at worst having a massively negative effect on re-offending rates.
Anyone worried about violent crime in the US should start by demanding reform of the prison system.