Perhaps meaningful progress would be made if we first answered the question, what is the purpose of prison? Is it rehabilitation? Is it meant as punishment? Perhaps it's a combination of both? What should it resemble if done correctly? Who is responsible for answering these questions? Institutions relentlessly face the dilemma of ambiguity as societies evolve, what is their teleological principle (oftentimes forgotten), and should it evolve alongside society? A dangerous question with high stakes, since evolution means a possible error in grafting with the environment and therefore death, but stagnation also means the possibility of environmental change without appropriate evolutionary response and therefore death.
Some of this is a naming problem. "Prison abolition" doesn't imply any alternative. I guess "Prison reform" is too loaded? Too overused? Not as catchy? This is why I'm not in marketing.
I think [edit: the term] abolition works in the sense that at least some of us who self-apply the label of "abolitionist" are not interested even slightly in the notion of reform, which in this case is polishing a genocidal turd. Rather than reform something genocidal, some of us prefer to abolish the current US system of prisons etc., and in its place implement something that does not resemble the old harmful system. I don't want a better prison system, I want something other than a prison system as we know it.
I think there are too many variables to say that the Norwegian system would work here in the US. Job training and investing in prisoners on the front end would probably lower recidivism and should he pursued but to say we would get the same results is fatuous. If you sent the population of Newark NJ to Norway, the country would collapse.
I am not sure about the effectiveness of a serious job training program, but probation, home confinement, community service, and drug treatment programs don’t have a significant effect on recidivism. Most individuals sentenced to prison in the US have been arrested and recodivated numerous times prior to their confinement.
Perhaps meaningful progress would be made if we first answered the question, what is the purpose of prison? Is it rehabilitation? Is it meant as punishment? Perhaps it's a combination of both? What should it resemble if done correctly? Who is responsible for answering these questions? Institutions relentlessly face the dilemma of ambiguity as societies evolve, what is their teleological principle (oftentimes forgotten), and should it evolve alongside society? A dangerous question with high stakes, since evolution means a possible error in grafting with the environment and therefore death, but stagnation also means the possibility of environmental change without appropriate evolutionary response and therefore death.
Some of this is a naming problem. "Prison abolition" doesn't imply any alternative. I guess "Prison reform" is too loaded? Too overused? Not as catchy? This is why I'm not in marketing.
I think [edit: the term] abolition works in the sense that at least some of us who self-apply the label of "abolitionist" are not interested even slightly in the notion of reform, which in this case is polishing a genocidal turd. Rather than reform something genocidal, some of us prefer to abolish the current US system of prisons etc., and in its place implement something that does not resemble the old harmful system. I don't want a better prison system, I want something other than a prison system as we know it.
I think there are too many variables to say that the Norwegian system would work here in the US. Job training and investing in prisoners on the front end would probably lower recidivism and should he pursued but to say we would get the same results is fatuous. If you sent the population of Newark NJ to Norway, the country would collapse.
I mean ... what's your evidence for this? We've never tried anything remotely like this. What's to say it wouldn't work?
I am not sure about the effectiveness of a serious job training program, but probation, home confinement, community service, and drug treatment programs don’t have a significant effect on recidivism. Most individuals sentenced to prison in the US have been arrested and recodivated numerous times prior to their confinement.