Monday, October 19, 2009

On Prisons

Ben:

The purpose of the prison system should be to punish and reform criminals with the goal of preventing future violations. Therefore, I see no need for lifetime prison sentences, because they often are applied to criminals that are incapable of reform. Moreover, long-term prison sentences are a drain on taxpayers’ money. As harsh as this may sound, it seems to me that it would make more sense to execute the murderers and rapists of the world who would normally get extensive sentences.

Bilz:

No child dreams of going to prison someday. Rather, prisons are home to life’s failures. But whose failures, the prisoners’ or ours? What kinds of parents seek to satisfy their own indulgences while neglecting their children’s needs? The kind that are still children. What kind of societies stand idly by while others struggle for survival amidst squalor? The greedy kind with a heart-numbing Darwinian social philosophy. Such are the sources of the world’s pain, suffering, crime, violence, and brokenness. We punish criminals, yet we fail to fix the social structures and attitudes that produce them. If prisons are to be considered any sort of success, we must rehabilitate criminals from the scars of their lives. Only love can do that. Only a belief that these lives, these people are worth redeeming. Anything else, and we might as well just kill them. It would save taxpayers a lot more money.

3 comments:

  1. Word up to Ben. Bilz, your solution is love? C'mon man you have to be more specific than that.

    Here's what we ought to do with long-term prisoners - put them to work. It would take a few good ideas, but I'm sure we could come up with a way that prisoners could help the state generate revenue and essentially pay for their imprisonment.

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  2. lets get a new topic going boys!

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  3. next up..... bilz vs ben: is gambling a sin?

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