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ChristianKl comments on A Proposal for Defeating Moloch in the Prison Industrial Complex - Less Wrong Discussion

23 Post author: lululu 02 June 2015 10:03PM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 03 June 2015 01:50:32PM 4 points [-]

Perhaps instead of the prison, the ex-prisoner should be given the financial incentive to avoid recidivism.

Given people who commit crimes money that you don't give the rest of the population seems like a bad idea for all sorts of reasons.

Lack of getting caught for a crime also isn't proof of good behavior.

Comment author: gjm 03 June 2015 04:11:31PM 1 point [-]

If giving them money goes along with putting them in prison for a substantial term, then I'm not sure there are severe bad incentives here. In any case, what bortels mostly has in mind is indirect financial incentives: trying to ensure that ex-convicts are able to get decent jobs. (Which should go along with trying to ensure that other people are able to get decent jobs, too.)

Comment author: bortels 04 June 2015 01:37:28AM 0 points [-]

Exactly. Having a guaranteed low-but-livable-income job as a reward for serving time and not going back is hardly a career path people will aim for - but might be attractive to someone who is out but sees little alternatives but to go back to a life of crime.

I actually think training and new-deal type employment guarantees for those in poverty is a good idea aside from the whole prison thing - in that attempts to raise people from poverty would likely reduce crime to begin with.

The real issue here - running a prison being a profit-making business - has already been pointed out.