There are three ways to deter crime. One is to remove the reason for the crime – a well-fed person need not steal food. The second is to make the consequences of being caught worse than the gain from the crime itself. And the third is to remove a person who has committed a crime from society.
Locking criminals and socially inept (ie insane) people away from everyone else has long been a workable alternative to killing them outright. But once these people are safely out of sight, what should be done with them?
Some would say they should be ” rehabilitated.” Others that they should be made to suffer. Others that they should do productive work to pay back their debt to society. But all of these courses take extensive resources in people and money .
I’ve often toyed with the idea of a “drone paradise” where convicts have access to all the drugs, alcohol, and entertainment they want, happily deteriorating to death. It would be inexpensive and relatively humane and would, after all, serve the main purpose of keeping them away from the rest of us good people .
Just another modest proposal .
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 