whatevs

[cthulu2016]

On edit: Just not worth it.

Here, have a kitten.

[cali]

1. this strikes me as an odd and rather incoherent argument

And I'm not sure what you're arguing for or against. If you're simply making the point that prisons, at least in this country, largely suck; well, yeah. no duh. But then you bring in Singapore, so it's clearly not all about prisons in this country. And how about the corporal sentence that was just handed down in Saudi Arabia? Would you rather have your spinal cord severed or go to prison?

Pretty sophomoric stuff here.

[bemildred]

2. This reasoning stuff is trickier than you might think.

But yeah, humility will never steer you too far wrong.

[enlightenment]

3. How many people have you asked?

And if your sample size is adequate, how do you know that they actually understand what "real 18th century flogging" means - in real terms?

It's easy for people to say they would prefer some unknown and largely unidentified pain to something they can imagine. Describing flogging, even showing someone flogging, doesn't mean they grasp what it means to be flogged. Boys' Own stories aside, people routinely died from flogging when it was used as punishment, from shock alone. A trip to hospital won't necessarily save you under those circumstances. Did you explain that to them?

I'm not sure what your overall point is with this post, other than to point out that our penal system is terminally flawed - but I am pretty certain that your hypothesis wouldn't bear a lot of scrutiny.

[snooper2]

4. Is probation involved in either case?

got a neighbor doing 5 weekends in jail instead of a years probabation for a minor weed charge---

[el_bryanto]

5. I favor stocks myself - at least you are out in the sunshine. nt