re: #384 Targetpractice, Worst of Both Worlds

So you believe that, once released from prison, a felon should have no restrictions placed upon them? That once you leave prison, society is to treat you as though you did nothing wrong to begin with?

Yes, ideally.

But you’re hitting the classic point of friction of dealing with criminals. Punishment or rehabilitation? Can a leopard change its spots?

A very unfortunate reality is that the punishment as we’ve set it up - not just in the US, but much of the world - works against rehabilitation. I say unfortunate because rehabilitation works. Even worse, the treatment of released criminals reinforces negative behavior, aka recidivism.

The ugly caveat to that statement is that this isn’t a perfect world. Rehab MOSTLY works, but there are individuals who will repeat and even increase their criminality.

The more the needle moves from rehab to punishment (both in and after prison) the greater the recidivism. Again, however, messy reality arrives. There are some who won’t repeat, regardless.

There is also a small portion — very small compared to the other end, but it exists — that will stop because of the punishment but are otherwise unable to be rehabilitated.

All those things considered (plus a lot of boring details) explain my opening answer. Yes, I think that when a criminal has served his time he should have all his rights and responsibilities restored — the right to vote, the right to carry firearms, the right to not have to bare his breast, all of it. The reason is that this causes lower levels of recidivism.

Oh, the boogieman “child molester” (and the slightly lesser brother “sex offender”). Reality check: despite conventional wisdom they do not have a higher than normal rate of recidivism. But the crime is so heinous we tend to lose our minds on the subject. It’s the easiest button to press. ahem, “Think of the children”.

My final point (this and I’ll close) is a caveat. I said yes. HOWEVER, I also think it’s not yes alone. I think we should move the needle from punishment to rehab, and that includes post-imprisonment rehab. For child molesters/sex offenders that includes counseling. The stick should always linger and be available — fail, or violate, the rehab and spend some more time in prison. When rehab fails, when the individual shows they cannot or will not change, they should be removed from society. Not into eternal punishment, but where they cannot inflict any more harm on the innocent (or at least allegedly innocent).

An anecdote supporting this last . There are offenders who should stay in prison. I have one example. I won’t name his name, but he was an inmate at the prison in which I worked. He raped his two year old daughter. If it came up, he claimed it was because he was on LSD at the time. Except, when he finally served his time and got out (but was still on parole) he raped his three year old grand-niece. Again, “it wasn’t him, it was the drugs”. I am not against permanent incarceration.