There is an easy concept behind the rules in our daily lives that even the little kids know. It is that if you do something bad, something that you should not do, you go to jail. Of course there is a more complicated structure on these rules that makes up our law system. Besides these rules isn’t there always more than one solution to a problem?
Let’s say you come across a dog that does not behave properly. This dog does not sit when it’s told to do so, aggressive towards people, does not want to use their litter box etc. would you kill this dog to solve the problem it causes? Surely killing the dog would get rid of all the problems it brings but is it actually a good solution? I think we can agree that killing is not actually the solution we should choose. Dogs are smart animals that can be trained by you or a professional. And with some patience and time you can see that your dog is now does not cause any of those troubles. And surprisingly humans are even smarter than dogs!
There is a famous saying if you want to help someone you should not just give them a fish, you should teach them how to fish. Again two solutions but one of them actually solves the problem permanently. I think it is clear where I am getting to with these examples. Yes, people who commits crimes should go to prison. But that does not suggest that we should build more prisons when we can work on as little as people goes into prison.
Building new prisons will take up to two years but building a new perspective will take longer than that. We must work on lowering the crime rates. Reasons of committing crimes are generally based on two things; education and laws. They both take up significantly big roles on this but I will talk about law side since it is more related with this topic. One difference we can see between two countries which has different crime rates is deterrent laws. They may both have a law against a crime, but people are less likely to break the law if it has bigger consequences for them.
Even though results may not be instant while trying to change people’s behaviors, it will be much more beneficial from many aspects. Such as an improved society, comfortable living, better economy etc.
When you are walking down the street at night which one of this would you prefer? To know that when someone attacks you they will go to prison. Or to know that there is not going to be anyone attacking you. And that is why we do not need more prisons but saved people.