Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Even someone with an extremely low chance to re-offend has a chance to re-offend. And what's that chance and hows it quantifiable?
A large part of the justice system beyond rehabilitation and punishment is public safety.
To me if a pedophile rapes a kid and then is labeled as a low chance to re-offend, I still really don't want him anywhere near my neighbourhood or my kids.
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Per your example, such individuals are actually released into the public. They are under certain types of monitoring, have restrictions on where they can stay and need to declare that they are a pedophile to their community (I think). I believe monitoring in such a manner is a better use of resources than stuffing them in a room at a much higher cost.
In all seriousness, I agree with you. I wouldn't want such a person by my kids either. But there are also plenty of regular individuals I wouldn't want my kids around.
I also totally agree with your point about how do you quantify it? I mean, we can't quantify the risk of some of the regular people killing us on purpose or accidentally (which happens regularly, such as a traffic collision, drunk driving etc.) as much as individuals with mental illness randomly killing someone. Metaphorically, taking in someone with mental illness who has committed a crime is more similar to quarantine than actual incarceration. You let the person go once the risk has been mitigated. Unfortunately with mental illness, you can't completely "cure" it. Just manage it. In all seriousness on a topic that probably hits closer to home, do we incarcerate all individuals with PTSD as they are at risk to harm themselves and others? IMO, no. And I really hope we can find more resources to help those with PTSD (for instance) as well as any other mental illness.
There really is no clear cut win win option as you cannot appease everyone.
For the record, I don't disagree with you at all. I am merely saying that there are those who believe that if someone is low enough, they'd rather spend money to try to help 10 individuals with mental illness vs continue to lock up one individual who is of low risk to harm anyone else.
And overall? I'm pretty sure most individuals who say "release the guy" have a NIMBY perception as well. I really wouldn't want to share a neighborhood with some of these individuals either, rehabbed or not. Would I prefer him kept isolated from society? Selfishly, yes; even if the odds are probably higher for me to be attacked by some undetected individual with mental illness (likely due to there being more undetected than offending and rehabbed individuals out there).
But none of the above matters for those who have already been affected negatively by mental illness.
