On 9/6/2013 1:59 PM, Oren wrote:
On Fri, 06 Sep 2013 14:24:14 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 05 Sep 2013 11:46:07 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Thu, 5 Sep 2013 20:00:04 +0200, nestork
wrote:

I know that this isn't going to be a popular comment, but I think it's a
tragedy that someone only 20 years old got shot and killed. The kid was
up to no good with breaking into people's homes and hijacking cars, but
still, it would have been better for all concerned if the homeowner
phoned the police and they came and arrested the intruder and he ended
up going to jail for two years where he took a welding course and ended
up getting a job with a local farm equipment manufacturer and never
committed another crime in his life. I know it's naive to think that
things would always work out for the better that way, but it's a better
ending for all concerned if it did.

Kids brains aren't fully developed until they're fully mature, and while
most 20 year old women are fully mature, many 20 year old men aren't.
Their brains are still developing, and they don't make rational
decisions like they would at age 25 or 30. Unless this kid was breaking
into homes to feed a drug habit, often the reason why people commit
crime is that they want (but don't actually need) money, and what's
important to immature men is their "rep" or "street cred" amongst their
friends, and the thrill of doing something dangerious. So, while they
could go back and live with their parents, that would be their last
choice as long as they could support themselves by selling drugs or
selling stolen stuff. Truth is that what lots of young kids like that
really need is a few years in jail to protect them from themselves until
they get mature enough to start thinking straight. Then, they become no
different than the rest of us.

Yeah, I know, people are going to bark at me for having such a wuss
opinion about it, but it's true. In 5 years time, that criminal kid
could have been a totally different person. I saw that myself when I
was growing up and saw that the "crazy people" I knew in high school
started to change between the ages of 17 to 23. People that I believed
were headed for either prison or an early grave ended up getting jobs,
getting married, having a kid, saving for a house and I never heard much
about them any more.


nestork,

I won't "bark" at you but will dismiss some of your notions.

- A 20-year is NOT a "kid".

- Rehabilitation is a known fallacy - a person has to be "habilitated"
before the person can be "rehabilitated". You cannot rehabilitate one
that has never been habilitated.

- Recidivism rates are as high as 85% or more.

- Science has not yet figured out how the brain works in psychopaths
(cite Newtown, CT).

- Many, most all prisons, do NOT have trade skill programs anymore.
Many never did in the first place.

- Prisons are now "warehousing" crooks, scoundrels, and scallywags.

All true but it is useful to incarcerate the psychopaths until they're
too old to commit crimes.

By that time they become "institutionalized" and try to refuse parole
or to be released. One guy (long term bank robber sentence), after
release, went out and threw bricks into post office windows, sat on
the curb waiting to be arrested. They cannot function in society and
prefer to stay locked up, being told what to do and when to do it.

One day, INS (immigration service then) released dozens of Haitians
from a detention facility in Miami. Some showed up at the federal
prison wanting back in. We ran 'em off. We had no custody Remand Order
--


I read about some Amish teens who were arrested and jailed who didn't
want to leave the jail because it was so much easier for them in jail
than it was at home, they considered it a vacation. ^_^

TDD