[Troubleshooter]

Originally posted by sycamore

Agreed. Plus, as I see it, because you used your brain to think about committing the crime, your brain should be removed...not your hand, foot, etc.

I'm sensing sarcasm here...

Originally posted by sycamore

I think we have to take the victim and their family into account, at least to a small degree. After all, they're part of the society we're attempting to protect. And if you lock a person up and "throw away the key," society is still protected.

I agree that victims are a part of the formula, but for me, personally, it's not as much a part as for others because ultimately I believe that reason is more important than emotion.

Originally posted by sycamore

I don't think the cost would be such a big deal in the long run if we cleared some of the prison population out (e.g. nonviolent drug felons). In addition, if we put the prisoners to work, then the money is not being wasted.

Agreed, but the inmate work program is a whole new, giant can of worms entirely.

Originally posted by sycamore

How do you propose reconciling this with the 8th Amendment?

I think that the founding fathers had a different view of what would be considered cruel and unusual. They lived in a harder time and probably had much more first hand knowledge of the effects of punishment.

Not quite so warm and fuzzy, as it were.

Originally posted by sycamore

Absolutely not. You are sent to live in an 8' x 8' cell, where you may or may not have a TV, where you will have to spend anywhere from 12-23 hours a day. You face the possibility of being killed or raped or infected by other prisoners...and this will go on for the next 30-50 years.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like hell to me. A death sentence almost seems kinder.

I think that we should all table this aspect of the conversation until we can get some people that are actually in, or have been in, this position

Edit: typos (I hate doing this at work sometimes)