Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a sensible, adult debate about crime, punishment and rehabilitation without it devolving to the mudslinging about being “soft on criminals” that we sometimes see stuck as labeled on anyone who thinks the current system is palpably failing?

Simon at Obsolete on the whole prison overcrowding furore:

Did John Reid have the honesty to admit that the government’s complete sycophancy towards the tabloids is the reason why the prisons are now full to bursting? Of course he didn’t … What needs to happen is a complete step change in thinking. We have to admit that locking up over 80,000 men and women is not making us any safer in the long term. It removes the most dangerous from society for good, but leaves us with the vast majority no better off … No one is suggesting that violent offenders should not be locked up for own safety, far from it. If anything, those convicted of those crimes still get off too lightly. [however] Our system for dealing with drug offences, those addicted to substances, the mentally ill and the vast majority of women prisoners should reflect the fact that their crimes are less serious. Community punishment does not just need to be that; while to appease the tabloids it needs to have a harsh element, rehabilitation should still be the key. The scheme set-up to help foreign prisoners leave is exactly the sort of thing that should be available to them.

Wouldn’t it be sensible to fundamentally reform our rehabilitation policies to ensure potential recidivists feel they have a way out and can “go straight” without being simply dumped on the street after they’ve served their term? Wouldn’t it be good if minor criminals could “repay their debt” while learning useful skills, a sense of self-worth and the basic essentials of employability?

Wouldn’t it be good if the tabloids could be told to fuck off and grow up?