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ryjm comments on [Link] Why prison doesn't work and what to do about it - Less Wrong
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Comments (20)
Unless being on "the streets" means running with gangs and/or living in a slum. I'd rather spend those years in jail rather than watch my friends get shot (assuming that I'm stuck in this environment and have come to the conclusion that murdering is bad, revenge is unsatisfactory, etc).
Though I can't imagine a situation where a person is rational enough to choose jail over the streets but not rational enough to find another way out of his current situation.
One of the main points of the article is that you are underestimating the cruelty of prison as a punishment.
I've heard anecdotes from most of my friends in Alaska: Outside of major cities like Juneau, it's common for anyone on the streets to spend the winter in jail. Since they can't be jailed without having first committed a crime, they just keep committing some trivial crime that will require their arrest but is otherwise fairly harmless (blatantly stealing a single loaf of bread, urinating in public, etc.)
In Alaska urinating in public can get you to jail?
Yeah, they're lenient like that. In the US, that's often enough to put you as a registered sex offender for life. unreliable Google citation
What do you mean by "often"? For example, if I urinate in a dark corner and accidentally a policeman walks by, what's roughly the median and mean jail time I should expect and the probability of being registered as sex offender?
I am not a lawyer. Consult your local laws for details on possible jail sentences. My experience is that actual court data is notoriously unsearchable for a layperson, so I suspect median and mean sentences would be very difficult to calculate. These are also modified by judges who reduce or dismiss the charge.
My understanding (IANAL!) is that the probability of being registered as a sex offender, assuming you've committed a crime on The Big List Of Sex Crimes, is 100%. Consult your local laws for details on whether public urination is actually on said list, as it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
You also have to factor in whether the police officer actually cares enough to arrest you (which, if you're clearly a sober, polite, middle-class, white, male, is probably fairly low)
I agree; I spent a while doing that for modafinil, and I don't feel especially satisfied with the results.
My local laws are probably very different from those valid in Alaska. I am asking just for curiosity, since it hadn't occurred to me that urinating in public can be such a major problem. I am not planning to travel to Alaska to urinate there.
Spending time in jail is worse than any "streets" I've ever heard of, and I'm from Detroit. If its about the trauma of watching people you know get harmed, that happens pretty constantly in jail, and less often even the worst neighborhoods.
When the temperature drops to -30C, jail seems better than street.