We're going to see a lot of political push to expand the death penalty to crimes other than murder, as well as more talk about getting tougher on incarcerated criminals. We're also going to see unprecedented growth in the for-profit private prison industry, which will be widely regarded as a "good job-creator for small towns."
In the for-profit prisons, initially there will be some minor scandals about cost-cutting by doing things like reducing food allowances and medical care. I can already foresee them cutting out a meal a day ("cuts calories as well, no need for them to get fat on our dime") and progressing to a day a week without food ("even cheaper, we don't need to have the cafeteria staff in that day").
The scandals will soon wane as people get accustomed to the new normal; and besides, "nobody needs to worry about it but criminals."
Currently, the mass mind has decided that criminals can not be rehabilitated. We are even seeing a resurgence of theories about "criminality" being a heritable trait, along with other "anatomy is destiny, you are your genetic makeup and that's that" lines of thought.
Many people are starting from a belief that criminals are criminals because their genes make them criminals, and who therefore believe they themselves are non-criminal due to inherent genetic superiority. This makes "criminal" a class of "other" toward which they feel neither empathy nor ethical responsibility. In this psycho-social environment, especially if we come to a time of scarcity, conditions are likely to result in deliberate killing, as well as exploitation for things like unpaid labor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment