Comment on Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales
rollin@piefed.social 2 days agoCommunity service is a classic punishment which I think makes good sense for nonviolent crime.
It should be a good option, but it's more difficult to run effectively than it might appear. The ideal would be for it not to be purely punitive, but to offer in itself some level of rehabilitation. For instance, a bike thief might be sentenced to helping out in a community bike workshop, or someone who committed low-level fraud might be required to help poor people manage their finances.
At the moment the reality is quite different I think, and people end up being sentenced to pointless busywork. I know someone who was given a community sentence for fighting and he described it as a bit of a joke. Every Saturday, they were supposed to clean up litter from grass verges, but the main issue was no one wanted to be there, not least the supervisor. So they'd generally just mess around for a bit and go home early.
AMoralNihilist@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Oh for sure, effective rehab programs need a decent chunk of funding. And they are expensive until they start paying for themselves years or even decades down the line. And their benefits are typically indirect so they are very hard to actually measure their success.
But it’s shown time and time again that the current system doesn’t work. And I would rather we spend what little money we have getting rapists longer sentences than thieves and vandals.