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I may make more posts on this topic, a sort of How I Think Things Should Be theme.
If I Ruled The World, the criminal justice system would be very, very different.
Convicted criminals would either be incarcerated, if deemed to pose an ongoing risk to the community, or allowed to remain at home, subject to attendance at their required activities; failure to attend, inability to attend from home, or subsequent criminal behaviour of any kind would result in incarceration.
Required activities for non-incarcerated criminals would be community service and counselling. Community service would be set according to the crime committed.
Counselling would be assigned by a panel of experts after examination of the crime and the criminal, both in type and amount. This would include psychotherapy, vocational training, education, job-finding assistance, or whatever else the panel considered required for this person to become a healthy and productive member of society.
All of this would be organised on the principle that if someone commits a crime, there is something wrong in their lives that caused them to be in the position where that seemed like the best option available to them, and that is what needs to be corrected.
If imprisoned, well. Prison inmates will find life is far from dull, but is thoroughly regulated. Going to prison *will* be a somewhat unpleasant experience, but not not not in any way cruel.
In prison, counselling will be extensive, in all relevant areas, and ongoing, accompanied by daily classes - everything from basic literacy and numeracy through to high school graduate level, including compulsory courses in elementary moral philosophy and ethics.
Recreation will also be regulated. While each prisoner will have periods in his or her schedule in which to choose their own activity - which can be reading a book, playing video games, working out, playing board games, or playing sport, or anything else they want to do that won't be harmful to themselves or others - much of their recreational time, of which there will be plenty, will be scheduled.
Scheduled recreation will include solitary and group activities. There will be sports, both training and competitive games between teams of inmates. If sufficient inmates favour a given sport, there can even be leagues and competition. There will be board and computer games - and there can be leagues and competition in those, too. Competition is healthy, pride and aggression are natural human impulses, and learning to channel those energies in a safe and positive way will be important.
There will be a well-stocked library of fiction and non-fiction.
One of the life skills that a prisoner will be learning is how to have fun and occupy leisure time in a healthy way that's enjoyable for them and not harmful to others, as opposed to, say, getting drunk and making trouble.
Prisoners with substance abuse problems will have programs that include rehab, addiction treatment, and assistance in developing long-term strategies to stay clean. Post-release, they will be provided with access to ongoing support in this.
Parole will be available only to those prisoners who have "graduated" from all elements of this course in personal improvement.
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