Prison

Why are so many people in prison? This article tries to get to the bottom of that question. Very thought-provoking. Key passage: This situation raises a moral problem that we cannot avoid. We cannot pretend that there are more important problems in our society, or that this circumstance is the necessary solution to other, more pressing problems—unless we are also prepared to say that we have turned our backs on the ideal of equality for all citizens and abandoned the principles of justice. We ought to ask ourselves two questions: Just what manner of people are we Americans? And in light of this, what are our obligations to our fellow citizens—even those who break our laws? Read the whole thing.

Comments

[Steve]

This is a festering problem that we ignore at our peril. I don't have any issues with the article, though I think there is another factor that wasn't mentioned - the privatization of prisons and thus the commercial prison interests that now have a vested interest in increasing the number of prisoners.

BTW, were you able to get the wrongful convictions article I linked to that you mentioned a few posts ago?

[Alaska]

Interesting point about private prisons. Hadn't really thought about it. Having strong anarchist tendencies, I generally prefer privatization, but I have so far been unimpressed with private prisons.

I've been pretty busy and haven't had a chance to read the article yet. I'll get to it when I can.