[Fiannan]

Sorry to spoil the "Let's cuddle a crook" thread but there are a few more things to consider...

First, rehabilitation works okay with drug and property offenders -- probably with offenders who are spontaneous, not habitual, criminals as well. On the later category that would even include someone who murders someone in a heated argument at a bar or catches a spouse with another person. In reference to drugs, most of the drug offenders should probably not even be in jail in the first place. People who steal or cheat on their taxes are not criminals who actually scare me in the sense of being a danger to life or limb. These people are generally the type of people who, in the old days in England, got shipped off to Georgia (pre-Revolutionary War) or Australia.

Second, people who rape, molest kids or do pre-meditated violent acts have a low rate of rehabilitation. These are people who, in the past, weren't exiled to distant lands but were executed. No big deal.

Third, let's not try to make race a big issue here. Most crimes involving non-whites are commited against other non-whites. That is usually not pointed out in articles dealing with sentencing. Also, I suspect that statistics can also get distorted by looking at these cases on a national level and not statewide. Most of the states that don't have the death penalty also have low percentages of non-whites. We could possibly conclude that in such states there is probably going to be less emphasis on punishment since the socio-cultural composition of the state is generally more liberal -- due in part to what areas of Europe settled the region. So if Skip steals a car in Minnesota he might get an easier sentence due to the prevailing attitudes of the people there than if Lamont steals a car in Mississippi even if the judge and jury in Mississippi might be totally black.