Message #3061

[ecuworrier]

do you mean like in 'Castaway' ??   

what I was suggesting ecu was that instead of a custodial sentence, in some cases doing proper community work would be better - and not as a soft option, but to actually get them to work and also to realize what it means to be part of a community. Apparently around two thirds of people on short sentences re-offend again within one year. With younger people, it's three quarters - so obviously prison, as it is, isn't really serving as a deterrent is it?

i'm not sure one can draw too many conclusions from that data... which excludes the basis for decision making on the part of the judges what did the sentencing with the folks standing in front of them... i have no idea what re-offendfing rates are for non custodial sentencing and whether community service.... well what is that... my limited experience of that is anecdote about some cleaning up of communal scrubland round a council residential block....  it occured to me that the residents might have benefited in more ways than one to have done the gardening themselves ... but oh no that job was marked out for community service end of! what became of the servers of those punishments i have no idea but being paternalist towards the residents was hardly enhancing their own sense of community within the block or with the wider community...

if cs is visible then i guess it serves similar  purpose to the good old stocks or the chain gangs of old... does it right wrongs? dunno does it change the opportunities for the recipients of those sentences dunno... anything more complex tjhan the chain gang model which presumably is cheaper than incarceration requires funds and people resources and well thought out plans this is investment potentially but in who's hands? and who is gonna pay? and who is gonna think through or follow through ... i feels we is on a bit of a no-brainer here...


ah the national service idea..... isn't that like 'gap year'

would it do the same thing as ns ie get folks to do enforced training and 'work' for a fixed period against their will and hearts desires but give some of them a sense of discipline... who is gonna organise that one oh and for girls too....  if you do it via the army then it is clear cut the infrastructure c an be tweaked to cope ... to do it in a purely community setting adds complexity i mean how many library volunteers does one library need and so on... and who is gonna pay but who is gonna

are we gonna end up with rich poor divide with those who can afford to send their loved ones abroad to gap years as they are now while no-one wants to take care of disaffected yourth ... the options are limited... ns (in its extended forms ie not everyone is suitable to train as soldiers health wise or moral reasoning) works best when folks already have a sense of involvement in the general er society as nation

i think if we are all in this together then our whole society could (i say 'could' cos folks is folks and nobody has really addressed that issue in a cultural or a political sense in this country )
benefit from community service for 2 years starting with the politicians... preferably the most ghastly environments that britain can throw up for them



GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,