What is the point of prison?

[Bromptonaut]

No it doesn't.

It always comes back to personal responsibility.

You can throw as much money as you like at someone, but them being minded to offend will trump every penny.

Spend some time in Bedlington Magistrates' Court.

You will see the same offenders, time and time again.

A hundred or more previous convictions no longer raises any eyebrows.

If you had a dog that won't stop biting people, ultimately you would put it down.

After every programme/probation order/community penalty has been tried many times and failed, the only realistic option is prison,

All well and good talking of personal responsibility but does a spell inside help develop that?

What went wrong in their lives before they even got to Bedlington Youth Court never mind the adult bench?

 

[Pale Rider]

And does prison work any better than all those other tried-and-failed alternatives?

Well, no one really likes going inside so there's a fighting chance the defendant won't want to repeat the process after he's been released.

Prison also gives the public - and the hapless coppers - a break from his offending.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Well, no one really likes going inside so there's a fighting chance the defendant won't want to repeat the process after he's been released.

The ever revolving door suggests that's based more on hope than experience.

What is the usual crime of the regular punters in front of the Bedlington Bench?

Would nicking stuff to feed a habit cover it?

 

[mudsticks]

All well and good talking of personal responsibility but does a spell inside help develop that?

What went wrong in their lives before they even got to Bedlington Youth Court never mind the adult bench?

Aiui there is a direct statistical correlation between suffering a socially deprived, abusive, or neglectful upbringing ,and offending.

Not of course to say that everyone who undergoes any or all of that will become an offender.

But it's not hard to see that poor experiences, and lack of options in formative years will have an exacerbating effect.

 

[BoldonLad]

And does prison work any better than all those other tried-and-failed alternatives?

Well, my son had a “break”, in prison, he has not repeated the experience.

 

[Archie_tect]

Well, my son had a “break”, in prison, he has not repeated the experience.

BL, but do you think he would he have repeated the offence if he hadn't been sent to prison and perhaps had been helped in another way?

 

[Archie_tect]

No it doesn't.

It always comes back to personal responsibility.

You can throw as much money as you like at someone, but them being minded to offend will trump every penny.

Spend some time in Bedlington Magistrates' Court.

You will see the same offenders, time and time again.

A hundred or more previous convictions no longer raises any eyebrows.

If you had a dog that won't stop biting people, ultimately you would put it down.

After every programme/probation order/community penalty has been tried many times and failed, the only realistic option is prison,

Your experience of Bedlington Magistrates' Court is typical of the whole penal system, clearly prison doesn't work either- if a person commits hundreds of petty crimes to support themselves in any way they can and prison is a way around the problems they have then prison is an option to help them survive, it isn't a deterrent anymore, is it?

 

[BoldonLad]

BL, but do you think he would he have repeated the offence if he hadn't been sent to prison and perhaps had been helped in another way?

It wasn’t his first offence, so, the previous escalation of none penalties didn’t stop/help him.

 

[icowden]

Spend some time in Bedlington Magistrates' Court.
You will see the same offenders, time and time again.
A hundred or more previous convictions no longer raises any eyebrows.
After every programme/probation order/community penalty has been tried many times and failed, the only realistic option is prison,

And what sort of offences are these offenders being tried for? There must be a reason that they don't respond.
What is missing?

 

[icowden]

In other news, this looks like good use of taxpayers money (not):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-59307679

 

[AuroraSaab]

It might seem harsh when you look at what people get for violence, but I'd say those are clearly deterrent sentences. One of the protestors explicitly said he would do it again if he wasn't jailed. What would have been a better course? A fine or community service? They would still be out and able to do the same thing again.

 

[fozy tornip]

Per threads passim, isn't the point to torture scum for decades until the end of their shortened lives?

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Are you SO fixated with the Government you blame everything on them? I don't remember the World being much different when Labour were in last time, we had people in prison, we had terrorism, we had poverty or does it only happen under the Tories?

I must have missed the global pandemic under the last Labour government.

 

[Deleted member 28]

I must have missed the global pandemic under the last Labour government.

More disillusioned than I thought, didn't know Wuhan was in the UK?

 

[matticus]

It might seem harsh when you look at what people get for violence, but I'd say those are clearly deterrent sentences

At least the government have made their law-and-order priotrities clear:
(anyone with a loved on killed/injured by a driver should probably look away)

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said every motorway and major A-road in the country is now covered by injunctions.

"Anyone who causes misery to motorists may face prison," he tweeted.