clearly the prison system is very ineffective. How else can you explain that these two brother keep getting into and out of virtually any prison they want?
Seriously though, you hit the nail on the head when you wrote about the goal and results of prison. Do people come out ready to be good citizens or are they in an even more desperate situation than they started in?
I am clearly biased but I think we are looking in the wrong place. We need to prevent people from becoming criminals. I think the only way to do that is ensure that everyone has access to a quality education. A quality education opens so many doors to people. I would imagine one might tend to avoid going through the "go to jail door" if they have many more options. Clearly some people with an education commit crimes. But they are not the majority.
absolutely agree
very few well educated people go on to be violent criminals
maybe there's a case where correlation and causation are a little confused here but I am pretty convinced that the causal direction at least partially goes in that direction
doubt the professors from MIT get together every friday to form fight club, although i'd love to see it if i'm wrong
You are wrong.
It's really about opportunity. People who have less opportunities are told to go make their own. People make them by trial and error as there is no script. People who make their opportunities in just the right way, might get rich or thrive and not go to prison.
But people who can't play a sport, don't have the Phd genius intellect, are supposed to do what? They do what they can and the pieces fall where they fall until they get the opportunity to do better. Educated people (formally) have obtained something, and have something to lose. Accomplished people in general are less likely to want to lose their accomplishments in prison, this can be professional fighters or educated people.