Instead of locking up troubled youths American Courts are increasingly ordering them directly into probation. As a result juvenile incarceration has dropped by half in the past 16 years. Typical demands by Courts are “Attend classes on time and regularly, be of good behavior and perform well … be of good citizenship and good conduct.” If the youths don’t comply they are locked up.
Often it is the order, “obey parents and guardians,” that trips up rebellious teens. As soon as they walk out of the door, monitored electronically, many get into trouble, presumably because they are daily associating with their old friends and acquaintances. The majority, mostly colored boys, drop out of school and their likelihood of later being involved in the adult criminal justice system skyrockets. In other words, putting kids in the probation system can lead to further involvement in the justice system, rather than providing an alternative to it. Electronic monitoring, an alternative to detention, is often what leads kids to be detained. (adapted from an article by NPR).
This, like it or not, is where fathers come in. An involved and caring father reads the riot act and gets the son to do something useful, even if it is only a mowing the lawn for neighbors. This way he can earn a bit of pocket money and start to be proud of an achievment, not simply follow the herd (his “friends”). So many teens don’t have fathers around, and I don’t care what the politically correct say, a double-parent act is the best way of getting kids to adulthood; single parenthood is at best a gamble. A mother-father family was designed that way a million years ago for a good reason (and I have no doubt father-father and mother-mother can work as well, although the jury is still out on that one). Success depends on love, involvement, mutual respect and discipline. These are Epicurean attributes, but they are also simply human, caring ones.
The American criminal justice system needs to be much more humane. In countries like Iceland and Norway, prisoners are treated well and with respect. They are rewarded with more freedom if they behave well. They are not used as cheap labour by corporations like in the US (where they can be paid well below minimum wage), but are taught useful skills to use when they are freed. Nor are the prisons privately run, so there’s no incentive to make a profit, only to ensure the wellbeing of the prisoners. As a result of a kinder approach to criminals, reoffending rates are much lower than in the US.
Within every human is a sense of justice. We all want those who have done wrong to pay for their crimes. But subjecting criminals to long sentences in harsh conditions only makes everyone worse off. Higher rates of incarceration cost the state- both in terms of housing more prisoners, and in terms of the loss of economic growth as a result of not having as many people in the normal economy. There’s also no evidence that harsher sentencing- the death penalty included- leads to lower crime rates. We shouldn’t sacrifice safety and economic growth in the name of delivering justice, because improving the lives of ordinary people is more important than worsening the lives of criminals.
I’m very unsure as to what the social benefits of having a mother and a father are, as opposed to two people of the same gender or a single parent. As you say, I think the jury is still out. I’ve always been a very independent person who hasn’t learnt much from or been inspired by either of my parents. But I know that getting divorced or growing up with a single parents means you’re more likely to be poorer. So from a purely economic perspective, I’m glad my parents stayed together.