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America’s incarceration rate is in decline

(www.theatlantic.com)
236 points paulpauper | 1 comments | 25 Jun 25 17:14 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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anovikov ◴[26 Jun 25 07:31 UTC] No.44385079[source]▶
Problem isn't with people who are in prison. Problem is with people who are out of prison with prison experience - most of them are thoroughly criminalised for life. So one should count people who served serious time behind bars, and now out - ideally, age-corrected, because people age out of crime and someone who got in jail at 18 and left at 50 is probably ok and isn't a big danger. That is the metric that society should strive to minimise.
replies(1): >>44385414 #
1. qingcharles ◴[26 Jun 25 08:36 UTC] No.44385414[source]▶
It's essentially that once you leave prison you have zero resources, usually all your friends are gone, often your family shuns you, you can't get a job due to your record and lack of skills, you can't rent any accommodation due to background checks, and you are on a knife-edge parole that will send you back for any tiny infraction.

And it's easy for someone to just give in and go back to prison. Prison is only scary the first time. After that you walk back in and meet people you know who don't judge you. You know the staff. You know the routines. Do a few more years for the parole violation and see if things have changed next time around. If not, repeat ad infinitum.