My harsh view...
My personal views are a bit harsh.
~ 1st, i think it is WAY to easy these days to become a criminal. Too many laws, too many little catches that can get you locked up or remove your right to arms, liberty and freedom, thus providing the government with easily obtainable methods of control over you. - That needs to be changed. Criminals should be people that do horrible things intentionally, and do things whole heartedly knowing their actions negatively affect society without remorse or consideration. You and me both know it is wrong to steal someone's car or murder, our morals and ethics keep us in line, the law provides a motivating factor to ensure this. There should be a CLEAR and distinction between a rule violation, and a real crime. Speeding tickets or jay walking are rule violations, and should simply be a fine or community service, nothing on your record. Murder, serious theft and the likes, those are crimes of wicked people.
~2nd, People who commit crimes (in the context of #1) should do hard time. If the judge says five years, then it is five years. No TV, No Gym, No swimming pool or X-Box ...definitely no gang activity... So, you work, hard, doing your time to repay society for the damage you've done. Education in prison should be for a very limited few that have shown extreme remorse, and indicate a serious potential to use it when they get out, otherwise, it’s a waste of time, money and resources to educate career criminals. There are many things a criminal can do to stay busy and productive without being "cruelly or unusually punished". Build foundations and houses for families of the victims, or laying bricks for the city construction, freeways, road repair etc. Of course the real hard ones can do indoor work at the prison, the ones on good behavior get to go outside to work. This would put our tax money to use and ensure a productive effort to keep them occupied and hopefully a sense of accomplishment for those on limited sentences. Under no circumstances should the criminals be afforded the luxury or energy to procreate gang activity, or conduct criminal enterprises while in jail. If they are doing this, it is because they have way to much freedom, and then what’s the point of having them in jail. Get caught conducting criminal enterprise in jail, get executed – period. Now, for the limited sentences, upon getting out, the should be given a small voucher for food and rent so they can restart their lives without committing crimes to finance themselves. If they were given a limited sentence, and they did their time, then they should have all rights restored, as if a regular citizen. – Simply put, if you’re dangerous or criminal enough to only receive “some” of your rights back, then you should not mingle amongst the innocent sheeple harvesting your wicked desires from them. You should be gone and out of their minds and lives.
~ 3rd, There should almost never be a life sentence. why? Because, I don’t want my tax money paying for dead weight. And yes, i mean exactly that. Life career criminals, repeat offenders of real crimes, criminals who would otherwise receive life sentences should be executed. If they are never going to get out of jail, then why are we keeping them around. The only way I could see validating the existence of a life sentence, is through their hard manual labor that gives substance to my tax dollars. Should we allow a criminal with a life sentence to remain alive more than a couple years is if there is some doubt as to his innocence? And if there is a doubt, then why is he in jail in the first place? Innocent until proven guilty ~ yes?
So, many do not really agree with my unusually harsh viewpoints, but it is something I strongly believe in. Make is harder to become a criminal, and be harder on real criminals, and eliminate the hardcore ones. This would save us lots of state funds, and making them work (instead of entertaining them) gives substance and validity to our tax dollars. If your good enough to be released into the trusting lives of regular citizens, then your good enough to have your god given liberty and freedom. The wicked should hang, and the free should prosper and be strong.
Bat