Recent Comments

1. almost 2 years ago on Heart of the City

   I never skipped, but I should have. Graduating a year or more early would have allowed me to go to college earlier and perhaps have learned more by staying in college longer.It certainly wouldn’t have harmed my social development as I wasn’t getting anything by staying in the grades I was in.And nearly all of those people you mention in IT that didn’t develop good social skills never skipped a grade.

2. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   I don’t know where you’re getting “my way or the highway” from, there’s plenty of adjustments and details that can be changed.

   What about the victims of their crimes? Again it depends on the kind of crime, but the people who committed the crimes will lose their freedom for a time, make some restitution where they can, the state will make more restitution. This is about justice, not vengeance. We’ve gone much too far towards vengeance.

3. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   Under my system recidivism would be far less likely, but for any who fall into that there would likely be extra therapy, more and longer supervision upon release and more examination before release. It also depends on what kind of recidivism. See why they are committing these specific crimes and try and address the underlying causes.

4. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   As a person who just recently died once said, “If you can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime.”

   Pithy, but more a reaction to the state of the system than a justification for it.

5. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   So the punishment of losing your freedom, being cut off from friends and family, missing your pets, missing your kids growing up, losing your job (if you had one), likely missing the payments on your car and house, etc aren’t punishment enough?And what about the white collar criminals? They tend to be treated better, will they also have to do road work?As for the road work, etc… Having prisoners perform that work cuts the pay they receive, cuts the number of jobs available.

6. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   More like in Scandinavia. Rehabilitate prisoners. Provide an education, give them actual skills to use once they get out. Provide an adequate safety net in society so fewer people turn to crime in the first place. Shorter sentences, they’ve gotten longer and longer over the last 40 years. Eliminate for-profit prisons, removing incentives to fill those prisons. Do these things and when they get out they will be far better equipped to rejoin society, “pay their debt”, and won’t be a tool to make rich people richer.Punitive sentencing does nothing to reduce crime or recidivism and we see this in the statistics. Giving people an alternative does.

7. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   I did read your post. The seniors who volunteer aren’t doing the same kind of “public service” that prisoners are forced to do. The prisoners have already had their freedom taken away, they aren’t “sitting around doing nothing” by choice. If you really want to save the public some money, eliminate for-profit prisons, release people serving long sentences for non-violent crimes, and reduce overall sentencing guidelines.

8. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   There’s a big difference between volunteering for public service and chain gangs. Taxpayers pay what they do because prisons have become a “for profit” institution. And so many people are in prison for things that haven’t actually hurt society or for things that a few hours of community service would have paid for.

9. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

   Not in the way it is done today. Plus, that’s incredibly paternalistic. And the kind of work they are given now is still punishment, not rehabilitation

10. about 2 years ago on JumpStart

    Why not have prison as rehabilitation instead? Why not reform our system to be more humane?