> Gone would be death row, with its tiny, moldering cells. Gone, ideally, would be cells at all, though that may take some time. But most of all, gone would be the attitude that incarcerated people belong in cages.
> Instead, following the lead of places including Norway and Finland, California would change what prison is for. The focus would be on giving incarcerated people a more normalized experienced that offered the skills, training and personal growth to be good citizens — because most people who go into prison come out again.
This all costs money that they presumably will need to raise taxes for. I'd much rather spend that on kids growing up. Providing those that don't have a good safety net or family life with more structure and activities. Or on the homeless and the drug addicted who are true victims and haven't shown a propensity to hurt anybody.
I'm not sure I can look favorably at a murderer, or even someone that commits manslaughter or negligent homicide while drunk driving. I probably need to become a better person and be more forgiving, but that's a really hard ask to make of people. I regularly imagine myself in the shoes of victims (over exposure to crime drama?) and know I couldn't bear having my loved ones taken from me.
This is a tough topic.
> Instead, following the lead of places including Norway and Finland, California would change what prison is for. The focus would be on giving incarcerated people a more normalized experienced that offered the skills, training and personal growth to be good citizens — because most people who go into prison come out again.
This all costs money that they presumably will need to raise taxes for. I'd much rather spend that on kids growing up. Providing those that don't have a good safety net or family life with more structure and activities. Or on the homeless and the drug addicted who are true victims and haven't shown a propensity to hurt anybody.
I'm not sure I can look favorably at a murderer, or even someone that commits manslaughter or negligent homicide while drunk driving. I probably need to become a better person and be more forgiving, but that's a really hard ask to make of people. I regularly imagine myself in the shoes of victims (over exposure to crime drama?) and know I couldn't bear having my loved ones taken from me.
This is a tough topic.