politics, hot take, probably even for this place
I do not think that there exists a single punitive system in any society today, that would pass a sound scientific analysis as to its outcomes - they could not be shown to have the effect that they supposedly have (and for which they were introduced).
What's more, I think that every single punitive system that exists today was introduced based on rhetoric and assumptions that were never actually tested or verified.
This ranges from late fees and fare-dodging fines, to welfare cuts, to policing and prisons and their specific policies. All of them. Every single one of them. Whether recent or very old.
re: politics, hot take, probably even for this place
@CartyBoston *Are* those 10% actually "incapable of living with others peacefully"? Or are they, for example, just being expected to live with people they are incompatible with, or in a way that does not fit their needs?
re: politics, hot take, probably even for this place
@joepie91 @CartyBoston That number certainly looks overinflated.
re: politics, hot take, probably even for this place
@CartyBoston Actually, to bring in a practical example: there has been an absolute torrent of "tiny house" experiments in the Netherlands, some of them awful and some of them good, but there's one I want to highlight in particular.
A municipality (I believe it may have been Dordrecht?) built a bunch of small, quick-to-construct houses. The converted-from-a-shipping-container type, though looking like a fairly conventional holiday house from the outside.
These houses were placed on an empty and disused terrain, outside of any existing residential area, but *just* close enough to it to still provide facilities like supermarkets and doctor's offices. The houses were offered to a number of 'problematic' unhoused folks who had been falling in and out of the system for sometimes over a decade, no approach succeeding.
Turned out, most of them were super happy with their houses in the middle of nowhere. They built up a little local community around that block, almost a small town of their own. They functioned fine. Suddenly, they were no longer 'problematic'.
And then the city decided that the area looked too unruly, it wasn't "safe" enough, it wasn't up to their standards of what a neighbourhood should look like, and they started meddling and trying to institute 'lifestyle rules'. And the whole thing immediately went to shit, and the problems started again.
These people just wanted to be left alone, and build up their own existence, outside of the expectations of conventional society. That's all they needed. They were just never given room to actually do so.
politics, hot take, probably even for this place
@joepie91 I hope this is not too reply-y, I do outreach with the unhoused in Portland Maine and work with some awesome social workers.
They estimate 10% if of the unhoused are incapable of living with others peacefully.
*Half* of the unhoused were in prison.
We just need to isolate, not punish, a very small number of Americans but it has become a self-sustaining industry that eats people.