63. What's better? Torture a criminal -tit for tat or try to tranform him to a better human?

Torture is definitely not the solution! I think that crimes can be divided into three categories: 1.premeditated crimes that are thought out 2.crimes of passion that happen in the moment 3.crimes where the perpetrator is suffering from mental issues It's been proven that the threat of punishment rarely deters #2 or #3. Even in the case of premeditated crimes, the perpetrator decides that the crime is worth the risk of punishment. Making the punishments worse and worse may slightly deter a small percentage of perps. but it would disproportionately over punish those that committed their crime out of desperation. Most of the jails here in the USA are filled due to drug related crimes. Selling drugs, for most, has become a source of income out of desperation. Using drugs and committing crime as a means to pay for an addiction falls under #3, mental issues. Of course their are greedy people that commit crimes (especially the rich!) but I believe that most people would love to have a legal opportunity to support themselves and their family. When people don't have to worry about a place to live and food in their stomach they also have more to loose. Right now you have people committing premeditate crimes just to survive or to 'escape' their worries through drugs. The less the people have, the more crime there will be. I think the main question to ask is can a particular person interact in society without hurting another person. If the answer is yes, then we should treat them through out patient programs. Locking them up only reduces their ability to better themselves and makes them even more desperate. So yes... we should try to not only transform them into a better human but we should also make this world a better place for humans that are not rich, to be :-)

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