Should we bring back the Lash?

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Advocate corporal punishment and most people will scoff or recoil in horror. "What do you take us for? Barbarians?" seems to be the most common response. and yet, thanks to the "War on Drugs" and mandatory sentancing the US imprisons more citizens per capita than any other country in the western world. One month ago the US Supreme Court ruled that conditions in California prisons were unconstitutional, specifically that the prevalence overcrowding coupled with shoddy/non-existant medical treatment constitued cruel and unusual punishment. Furthermore the prevalence of rape in american prisons has been declared a humanitarian crisis by numerous watchdog groups.

It's a simple question really.

If given the choice between 10 years in a California prison or 10 lashes in the public square which would you choose?

Personally I'd choose the whip.


PS:
The above morally-framed argument completely ignores the economic incentive for corporal punishment, you don't have to spend ____ years feeding and housing a flogged prisoner and you do not loose a potentialy valuable member of the workforce. Though if the former is your chief concern we could just bring back chain gangs.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It's because the question is raised in a manner where the comparative advantage is quite obvious. If it was put "whipped until your skin is flayed entirely from your back, or ten years in prison" it would be a little more problematic...

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

That argument cuts both ways. Replace "ten years in prison" with "ten years of confinement in a crowed cell with bad food worse medical care, regular beatings, and a sprinkling of rape".

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

So what is the point of your argument?

Prisons are now the worst form of punishment?

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Depends on who you ask.

My point is that the choice is not as one-dimensional many seem to assume.

This might add to the complexity of the question

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

An American man has ‘robbed’ a bank because the only place he could get health care was in jail.

Richard James Verone is 59 and was unemployed with multiple health issues before the crime.

Verone has an undiagnosed growth in his chest, two ruptured back discs, and a problem with his foot.

His medical ailments made working difficult after his 17-year career as a Coca-Cola delivery driver ended a few years ago. He tried living off savings and part time jobs, but still came up short. He applied for Social Security benefits but only received food stamps which did not help his medical problems.

When Verone robbed the bank he presented the teller with a note explaining that he was robbing the bank and only wanted $1. He did not want to scare anyone and was not doing it for the money. After receiving the dollar, Verone told the teller, “I’ll be sitting right over here on the chair waiting for the police.”

(Source: Chicago Tribune)