Recent Posts by JoeDuggins
10 posts found
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Sep 03, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Jon, The two concepts are exactly the same. You join the military, you join the prison population. Both are a result of a choice, one is good the other bad, but a choice is made in both cases. If you insist that prisoners didn’t choose to go to jail, then explain how they get there.Virtue against fury shall advance the fight |
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Sep 01, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Thanks Shakey, I’m glad that someone understands the concept of personal responsibility. I still wouldn’t put military members in the same league as inmates. Service members sacrifice for the good of all of us, inmates are the exact opposite, they take from all of us so they don’t need to sacrifice. I still see an indirect reward/punishment system like confiscating reading materials as a great benefit to population discipline. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Sep 01, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? The devil made me do it? What viable reason could you offer that would convince anyone that prisoners were actually involuntary residents of a correctional facility? Oh, how about “They’re mentally ill”? That doesn’t work. As soon as someone winds up in prison, you have to accept that they were found mentally fit to stand trial. Sure, they’re not well, no one would argue that, but they are still aware that they committed a crime, and they knew what was happening as it happened. Maybe you would say that a person in the military can “tap out” if it’s too strenuous, while prisoners have no opt-out. Still, there are any number of binding agreements that have no escape clause. Consider Islam, apostasy is punishable by death, that doesn’t leave you a lot of options. I stand by the claim that each inmate chose to be there by their actions. Everyone is accountable for what they do.Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Sep 01, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Crazy question: Who decides a person should commit a crime? Every guilty person in prison volunteered to be there by committing a crime, that’s the basis of personal responsibility. Your scenario describes an event that’s reactive, that’s not going to offer you any benefit from a conduct point of view. If you use the same system of privilege as a proactive system, you’ll see a real benefit. First, it’s wrong to create a mixed application the system of control. Everyone should be subject to it, not just trouble makers. Second, there are simple rules of interaction between individuals that are always true, like reciprocity. It doesn’t matter how mentally handicapped anyone is, they can all understand that non-compliance will result in the reduction of privilege. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Sep 01, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Saying that they can be denied items but not to beneficial effect, is silly. Anyone been through Basic Military Training? The denial of and access to specific items is a highly effective, commonly used process to develop civilians into military members. I don’t think anyone would argue that inmates deserve less then basic trainees. The only viable argument you can make against an “item control” policy is the same argument you can make against the existence of prisons. Most convicts are not first time offenders, and have been incarcerated before. As such, prisons don’t rehabilitate, and should only be used to disable perpetually violent individuals without implementing a large scale social eugenics program. You don’t weigh the value of an action by looking at the success rate, you weigh it by determining the if the level of benefit exceeds the total cost. If you control reading materials and as a result you can show a 5% decline in violence, then you should compare the effort in quelling 5% violence vs the effort used controlling reading materials. I would tend to be a fan of controlling reading materials, as not giving a guy a magazine is far less dangerous then confiscating a shank . Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Aug 25, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Straight B.F. Skinner. It’s true. The more you can regiment and control aspects of an individuals life, the less they care to rebel. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Aug 25, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? Do you think child molesters deserve to be counted with the rest of us? I’m not a monster, I don’t lack compassion or empathy, I simply don’t appreciate people that choose to violate the law in ways that hurt others. There are some crimes that I find silly, like non-violent drug offenses. But, I can’t stand people preying on each other, it degrades all of us as people. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Aug 25, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? I’m always happy when I can say something that provokes intelligent debate. The declaration of universal human rights runs along the same lines. Documents that promote the idea of rights that exist simply because someone is human. I won’t say that I disagree with the idea, if I did I wouldn’t be any better than a racist. There are certain actions that can be undertaken by and to people that I suspect are unarguably immoral. Cruelty, I think that cruelty is always wrong. Now, that leads to another question, what constitutes cruelty? I have, on many occasion, been rude, loud, impolite, and downright unpleasant but my intent is never malicious. Everything I ever do, I do because I believe it contributes to the well being of our society or organization. The idea of rights that transcend the development of a society throughout time is absurd to me. It doesn’t seem to me that there are rights, and then we notice them. It seems more like we notice a general need for something and create a right that fills the void. I wouldn’t say I was superior to the slave owning, heretical, elitist, terrorist, founders of America. I would say that I have the benefit of living some 233 years after their great accomplishment. I can sit in the seat of the information age with an education that exceeds the nobles of their time and draw conclusions based on information that just wasn’t available to them. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Aug 25, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? I always like the perspective that a divine being winked everything into existence and made people special in the meanwhile. While it would be really nice if rights came from divinity, they don’t. Not even the constitution makes that claim. But, I digress. The constitution is the source of all law in America. All federal and state authority is drawn from it. Here’s the crazy part, it’s just a piece of paper. It only has value because we agree to honor it. I would propose, if the source of all law has value only because we assign it, then the law of the land comes from a social consensus. If you disagree, that’s ok. It’s a rather broad idea. Either way you think about it, I would think that you wouldn’t say that convicts deserve the same rights we free people do? I do not kill, steal, maim, violate, dishonor, and only periodically offend. So, what is my incentive to “play civilized” if I’ll do better if I don’t. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
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Aug 24, 2009
JoeDuggins
10 posts
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Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior? I would say that once a person decides they don’t want to play the society game we all play (not being criminals). Then they have no rights. Rights come from the society, the more perfect union if you will. Once you leave society, you’re barely human. Money without intelligence is like a car without a road. |
