#that basically went ''I'll never answer the 'what about violent criminals' question because it's never asked in good faith''

[supreme-leader-stoat]

I hate it when somebody makes a well-researched and insightful post about aaaaaaaall the different issues with the usually but not exclusively American prison system (of which there are many), and then caps it off with "that's why we need to COMPLETELY ABOLISH all prisons, and don't come at me with nonsense about 'what about murderers and rapists?'"

People don't bring up murderers and rapists as some sort of 'gotcha!', you nitwit, they bring them up because you're entire argument ignores that even the current system is a massive step up from what almost universally used to happen to people accused (conviction optional) of those things. Stonings, hangings, lynchings. Reform wasn't on the table, being found innocent later down the line wasn't on the table, because they were dead.

And guess what? If you completely removed prisons from the equation, there's every reason to believe that all that would come back into fashion! We've got the red pill and the blue pill here, Neo; we can keep sequestering violent criminals in a way that helps protect the public from being further victimized and keep trying to chip away at the injustices that have taken root in that system, or we can let 'em loose until communities start snapping and dealing with offenses (real or perceived) in a more permanent way. You tell me which one is easier to swallow.