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From: jlg@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Hard case #1
Message-ID: <22425@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 14:06:37 EST
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Posted: Tue Feb 26 14:06:37 1985
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> Anybody have any proposed reforms of the Canadian or American justice
> system? I have one -- as a first cut, stop imprisoning anyone except
> for those who have committed violent crime and are considered a
> menace. Imprisonment is a stupid form of punishment -- an imprisoned
> man can not compensate his victims *anything* while in jail.
> 
> Laura Creighton
> utzoo!laura

This has, in effect, already happened in many large American cities.  With
the prisons so overcrowded, many judges can only sentence the most dangerous
criminals to prison.  A judge on 'The Constitution: That Delicate Balance'
on PBS last week said that he would, as a rule, only give prison sentences
to offenders in violent crime cases - all others got suspended sentences
with parole.  Of course, no law now requires criminals to compensate their
victims directly in any way.

J. Giles