Can suitably enforced house arrest serve as a better deterrent of crime than prison?

Hi folks,

I was just contemplating a random unconnected topic & the matter of house arrest entered my thinking by way of an indirect link to my line of thought. But then I got to considering whether house arrest, suitably enforced, can serve as a better deterrent of crime than throwing people in prison for relatively minor criminal activities.. It may seem super liberal - why should person X be allowed the freedom to meet with friends & loved ones at home, if he has committed a crime which might otherwise have got him 5 years maximum in the slammer?

Simply put, if a person is under house arrest, knowing that the GPS technology is now ridiculously precise, they will know they don't stand a chance of violating the terms of parole if they breach the order. Not to mention that they would be actively tracked in realtime by cops who are ready to take them to prison for real, no need for a trial as it's already in the terms of the liberal sentence they received.

Furthermore, they wouldn't want to make a show of things or put their neighbours at risk by essentially providing an invitation for cops to attend their address if they so much as step onto the pavement. And as an additional 'food for thought' deterrent, person X might enjoy having his friends & family over for a while to keep him company - but pretty soon he will feel crappy when he realises that their visits to him are becoming like compulsory family visits to a retirement home to see the uncle who nobody ever really liked but to whom they feel a sense of morbid family duty. Nobody wants to sit around all day & do nothing of great import, so all those friends & family will leave soon enough, when they have something else that they're into which is calling their name.

It would be far cheaper to maintain than keeping a low-risk offender in a prison where the care is provided by a payslip presented to the warden by the government. In the case of the UK where I'm based, this expense would be laid at the government's feet, essentially, so anything which brings costs down & gives serious food for thought about whether they want to continued with a life of crime, is really a boon not to be idly wasted. The (former) criminal is far more likely to go straight when they are placed withing a hair's breadth of the freedom they crave, but are unable to access. The ultimate deterrent. Take a man's freedom but offer the apparence of freedom in everyone he meets, everything he sees on TV or on the street below, and he will soon change his ways. More likely that than putting him into the equivalent of the Home for Disorderly Anti-Citizens, where he will not only be cared for at the expense of the state, but he will also live immersed in a breeding ground of criminal networking & enterprise development.

It's basically that the insane (the leaders) are in charge of the mad house (the Big House), and they are pouring gasoline on the flames every time a new heavy-hitter gets put away. Solution? Take all the low-risk offenders & make them slaves to their own deeds, seeing how close they are to freedom, not being able to touch it. Learning that freedom is more desirable than crime. Simples.

What are your thoughts?

FITO

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Seeing how prison has become a "right of passage" among the cool kids nowadays I suppose being grounded is a really lame thing so it might just work...

In all seriousness, I don't think it will be a good alternative for all criminals. Some animals really need a cage...

Peace

Prison isn't and has a never been a deterrent. In this day and age it's criminal college. Go in with a 1-4 in breaking and entering, come out with the connections to be the next Pablo.

Anyone who tells you different has never been locked up and has no idea what they're talking about. The only role prison serves is to give all the "PUNISHMENT!!!" people a little ego boost to make them feel like they're doing something to address the problem. When the reality is all they're doing is compounding it and making it worse.

Oh, and let's not forget that through lobbyists prison also serves to enrich the very same people these idiots vote for. The private prison industry is massive and takes in millions per year if not billions making sure people stay locked up. All on your dime.

But hey, why would anyone want to solve a problem that's profitable. That's communist talk.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

I did a year on house arrest , I was allowed out of the house from 10am till 10pm week days for work and on the weekends my Pizza guy would stop and pick me up a 12 pack of beer for a extra tip . . It was a piece of cake !

I vote to jail the fheads getting rich jailing citizens.

It's turned into big business.

Is this against the law for me to say yet?

The whole $ystem needs a giant douche.

Jailable or not, no middle ground here.

a reply to: underwerks

"Here at the state pen education system, once you have completed rape and meth manufacturing 101, we will send you out with a free return tuition in the form of a criminal record. Good luck, (statistically)see you soon!"

Ironically..Funny seeing Harvard and other big colleges participating in the profit scheme through PIC investment. They know a reliable gov-backed investment when they see it.

originally posted by: Gargoyle91
a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

I did a year on house arrest , I was allowed out of the house from 10am till 10pm week days for work and on the weekends my Pizza guy would stop and pick me up a 12 pack of beer for a extra tip . . It was a piece of cake !

This is your P.O., James. Please call me back. There's an issue with your urine test.

a reply to: Mandroid7

If there was a perfect anti-solution to crime and criminality, you'd be hard pressed to find one better than Americas prison system.

a reply to: underwerks

Believe it or not I wasn't required to test their attitude was don't F up and we wont bother you

a reply to: underwerks

We disagree a lot but I am with you here

The conditions in prisons today are a great National shame as far as I’m concerned

They shouldn’t be for profit

It shouldn’t be known you will be assaulted, to the pint where we joke about prison rape because it’s so common

Look there are animals who rape and murder and other crimes that deserves to be locked up

But much of our prison population is for non violent offenses

It’s should be a punishment, but also a rehabilitation

Then when someone serves their time, the system makes it incredibly difficult for them to get a job and reintegrate

I think the suggestion in the op is a good one, though I would need to research more

House arrest would cost much less money for tax payers, would stop forcing non violent prisoners to become hardened, and could lead to more success rates of rehabilitation, as long as it’s properly enforced

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

There’s no money in it.
Prisons need criminals to make money.

originally posted by: underwerks
Prison isn't and has a never been a deterrent. In this day and age it's criminal college. Go in with a 1-4 in breaking and entering, come out with the connections to be the next Pablo.

Anyone who tells you different has never been locked up and has no idea what they're talking about. The only role prison serves is to give all the "PUNISHMENT!!!" people a little ego boost to make them feel like they're doing something to address the problem. When the reality is all they're doing is compounding it and making it worse.

Oh, and let's not forget that through lobbyists prison also serves to enrich the very same people these idiots vote for. The private prison industry is massive and takes in millions per year if not billions making sure people stay locked up. All on your dime.

But hey, why would anyone want to solve a problem that's profitable. That's communist talk.

Well, then my first question is: Have you been locked up?

a reply to: Grambler

The current American attitude towards criminals and criminality is one of punishment over rehabilitation. The idea that punishing non-violent "criminals" is some kind of solution especially drug users is one rooted in the worst ideas of this country.

But at this point, too many important people are getting paid from it for it to stop. As long as corporations run the end result of our "justice" system, there will be no justice.

Only profit for the powerful. While the rest of us have to deal with a system shifted in favor of people who make a good living off of making sure you don't get one.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: Grambler

The current American attitude towards criminals and criminality is one of punishment over rehabilitation. The idea that punishing non-violent "criminals" is some kind of solution especially drug users is one rooted in the worst ideas of this country.

But at this point, too many important people are getting paid from it for it to stop. As long as corporations run the end result of our "justice" system, there will be no justice.

Only profit for the powerful. While the rest of us have to deal with a system shifted in favor of people who make a good living off of making sure you don't get one.

I remember here in Pennsylvania we had a judge that was sentencing kids to juvenile hall in order to get kick backs from the group than ran the detention center

For profit prison is a stain on this country

This seems to be an issue where regular people who are republicans and democrats should come together and force the politicians to reform the penal system

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

No, because the only thing to keep criminals behaving under house arrest and not go on a crime spree is their own restraint and good sense... Which they've demonstrated they are lacking in since they are imprisoned.

originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

No, because the only thing to keep criminals behaving under house arrest and not go on a crime spree is their own restraint and good sense... Which they've demonstrated they are lacking in since they are imprisoned.

Which is why he said minor criminals

I wouldn’t want someone who used violence in house arrest

But a white collar criminal, a recreational drug user, a tax evader, etc.

Why not

I wiuld Think it could work with heavy surveillance and restrictions in place

I kind of doubt this would deter crime because it sounds a lot like how things already are for people who haven't done anything wrong. Most people are already prisoners in their own homes and are pretty much slaves who are just living to work and working extra hard to keep themselves believing there's any real point to any of it at all.

Anyway, forcing prisoners to pay for their own incarceration seems like it wouldn't work very well, since at that point, they might as well just give up and refuse to cooperate and go to prison.

I am no fan of the prison system as it is, but house arrest is pretty much no punishment, at all. Getting to sit at home all day and play video games is heaven for some people who would rather not work. Perhaps house arrest combined with community service??

a reply to: BrianFlanders

Most people are already prisoners in their own homes and are pretty much slaves who are just living to work and working extra hard to keep themselves believing there's any real point to any of it at all.

That's a reality check. And a sad one at that.

Anyway, forcing prisoners to pay for their own incarceration seems like it wouldn't work very well, since at that point, they might as well just give up and refuse to cooperate and go to prison.

Having to pay rent while you're locked in a cage that's already being paid for by taxpayers? You don't say..

The state of Florida, which pays inmate workers a maximum of $0.55 per hour, billed former inmate Dee Taylor $55,000 for his three-year sentence. He would have had to work 100,000 hours, or over 11 years nonstop, at a prison wage to pay for his three year incarceration.

Link

In my mind the only way someone can be in favor of our draconian punishment system is if they're profiting from it. Literally or politically.