A lot changed when the Democratic Revolutions overturned the Monarchies, all except the Prisons. The philosophies of Crime and Punishment stayed largely the same. The system was justified on the grounds that individuals had Moral Responsibility, knew Right from Wrong, and would both deserve and understand their Punishment, that is, their terms of incarceration. The length of each man’s incarceration would be in proportion to the severity of his Crime. They would call it his “debt to society”. In popular parlance it would be “do the crime, pay the time”. I suppose a few starry-eyed political optimists actually thought that prisoners would spend their years behind bars reflecting on the errors of their ways, and contemplating plans for a better more productive life. But, really, for the most part the traditional Criminal Justice System seemed designed to take dangerous and threatening elements of society off the streets and to put them into storage some place. The lengths of incarceration seemed planned out to make the maximum use of the existing facilities – when the Prisons are empty, then Bank Robbers get 20 years to Life in Prison, but when Prisons are overcrowded the same criminals get a Max of 5 years with the chance of early release in 2 for good behavior. It is all rather cynical. The first reason for being cynical is that, well, the whole Right and Wrong and Punishment paradigm sort of presupposes that people have both Moral Responsibility and Choice of Action. Yes, yes, yes… the Social Scientists standing above it all on Mount Olympus, so to say, can point out a thousand possible directions for each person’s life. However, that is not exactly how it appears at ground level. When the choices and actions of most people are considered, a rather large proportion are simply carried along by their peer groups and take up whatever opportunities present immediately before them. It is almost as though being Conscious Reflective Beings is all wasted upon them, and they could have done the same things, and made the same choices while sleepwalking, or as zombie robots or whatever. There certainly isn’t much of a hint of Moral Responsibility there. And it is not just stupid people. I was made aware of a case several years ago in which a Large Government Agency was assigned the task of giving qualification tests that personnel from other Government Departments needed to take and pass. Well, to protect this one group’s identity, we will say they were from “The United Queendom’s Marine Corps”. They had aroused suspicion because all of them together were consistently ‘acing’ their tests, each man getting 100%. They insisted it was because of their collective high standards for intelligence and their well disciplined study habits. “The Few, the Proud”, the very Smart… and all of that. Anyway, on the morning just before the next Test was to be given to a contingent of these Marines, the Agency Manager himself walked down and delivered a new test, that covered the same information almost exactly, but mixed up the order of the Multiple Choice Answers – A, B,C, and D were shuffled about. Well, guess what happened. They all failed. Every single one. And with exactly the same answers. They had exactly memorized the wrong answers. Well, these young men aren’t stupid. And it can’t even be said that they entirely lack Moral Responsibility, as they were all able to defend their actions on the grounds of Group Cohesion, blah, blah, blah, that is, they were aware that they would need to come up with a quasi-moral excuse if they were ever found out. They knew they couldn’t just claim that cheating was easier and therefore preferable to studying. So, yes, people even while doing Wrong, are aware of their guilt, that is, they retain at least some of the underpinnings of Moral Responsibility. Only it is not quite enough to factor much into the choices they make. Apparently a great deal counts for more than do the subtle pangs of Conscience. What seems to matter most is the Ethos of their Peer Groups. Often a Peer Group will collectively act to diminish the force of Traditional Moral Awareness, by calling it effeminate or childish. In most cases a new Quasi-Ethos is put in its place – Morality is replaced by Machismo. Anyway, the primary effect is that Moral Responsibility, if not entirely forgotten, is at least thoroughly abandoned… left for girls and children. Yes, certain Political Reformers have long observed the horrible inadequacies of the Criminal Justice System – of incarcerating mildly dangerous criminals and then turning them loose when they have become really dangerous. So attempts have been made for Rehabilitation. Even I myself had written a few essays on the subject. However, there has always been one huge factor that has tied their hands – Secular Governments are forbidden from appealing to Religion. So their most useful tools for Re-Moralizing people is forbidden them. The most interesting examples here are concerning the Communist Re-Education Camps. The Communists for the longest time were aware that the Traditional Prisons were entirely counter-productive and so they tried to jump in with their own alternatives. I only wish we had more data available to us in the West on just how successful Secular Based Re-Education can be. I would be glad if it could be found that they had been able to make anything work – any Moral Success, with or without the aid of Religion, needs no excuse for me, as the way I see it, it is either From God or For Him. You know, the Communists really should have listened to their own Propaganda, you know, about Religion being used to Control the Masses. Well, duh! When exactly was the last time that any Communist Government didn’t seem completely involved in trying to Control its Masses. They should really use any tool that presents itself. But they insisted upon the Highest Purity of Political Doctrine – a Total Materialistic Scientific Approach. They could only tell the “Truth”, as they figured it. Truth, truth, truth… Well, such talk was at the forefront of all the Modern Revolutions – Democracy, Communism. “The Truth will set us Free”. Free was supposed to be Good. But what is Freedom? Freedom would bring us lives “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Freedom would be War of each man against all others. Yeah, they say that with Freedom comes Responsibility. What they really means is that to be Responsible we need to curtail all Freedom. Well, the Communist Regimes have always addressed this issue of Responsibility by obliging everybody to the State, through huge networks of legalisms and administrative rewards or punishments. Those who went after the Rewards, if they could merit them, were well enough off, but those who were less worthy or optimistic learned only to become secretive and scheming. So the Communist Regimes all came to have problems with Sub-Societies and Black Markets. People were simply picking and choosing as to how they could maximize their Material Rewards, and a sizeable minority always seemed willing to bet against the State. God and Religion in the Socialist Equation would have provided another important variable. In the West the 12-Step programs are said to be very successful in Re-habilitating all kinds of Low-Lifes. They started with Alcoholics Anonymous but have branched out to every kind of crap and corruption imaginable. And a large part of their success is through appeals to Religion and Spirituality. I can’t help but to think they could have been even MORE successful if only they had changed their format somewhat. As it is they all operate in the same way – people stand up and boost endlessly about what horrible low-lifes they USED to be, and then about how happy they are that they changed all that. But the Bragging about Evil is such a large component in it all. They honestly try to one-up each other on just how low they can go, or went. I can’t fail but to suspect that some only moderately low-life people feel as though they are not yet worthy to be in the group until they go out and take a bit more of a tail-spin into the ground. The Groups all say it more or less openly, that “People only change after they hit rock bottom”. So the Big Tacit Message with these 12-Step groups is ‘go away and come back only after you have done some Real harm to your Self, your Family and to Society’. So, yes, I think the 12 Step Programs would work even better if they took less pride in being so Evil… formerly. What I really think is going on is that their Bragging is a Survival of their Low Life Machismo Ethos alongside the resurrection of their Old Moral Ethos. While these people re-accept the Old Moral Values as part of the 12 Step processs, they are unwilling to relinquish the Bad Ass Credentials that had justified their Lives while they were in the active Process of doing so much Evil. So they stand up at each meeting and brag about what Bad Asses they are… or were. The problem is that I think it is a Mixed Message that probably does a great deal of harm. It has to be a factor in their Recidivism Rate… when these Relapsed Low-Lifers can reassure themselves that while doing all kinds of Evil, they are at least making great improvements on the Story they will be able to tell next time they stand before their Group of Proud Anonymous Low-Lifers. Anyway, the Communist Regimes and the Secular Democratic Regimes could do themselves a huge favor by admitting that God has a Psychological Reality. It is not to the point at all whether or not God has a Material Existence. That God appears so often in Psychological Delusions and Hallucinations should prove something, that God exists in the Mind. God is an important Psychological Factor. If only Science would appreciate this Spirituality Factor, and begin to do studies in the direction of designing Programs to take the greatest advantage of it, then we could possibly think of ourselves on the verge of arriving at a Perfectly Designed Religion. And once we have a really good Religion, then there is no longer anything to stand in the way of the True Dawn of a Real Civilization. Oh, I do have one practical idea for Rehabilitative Success, and that is to always isolate any New Comer into a stable well established Moral Group. In the case of Children, younger children should be placed with groups of older children, where no bullying of children their own age and size will help them protect and maintain their old Anti-Ethos. With adults, each new individual should have to feel entirely overwhelmed by his New Society. Remember the all-importance factor of Peer Group Acceptance. Control the Peer Groups and one controls the individuals.
Religion isn’t the guardian of morals and studies have been done. Atheists Supply Less Than 1% Of Prison Populations excerpt, W. T. Root, professor of psychology at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and said "Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character," adding that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers are absent from penitentiaries or nearly so. During 10 years in Sing-Sing, those executed for murder were 65% Catholics, 26% Protestants, 6% Hebrew, 2% Pagan, and less than 1/3 of 1% non-religious. Dr. Christian, Superintendent of the NY State Reformatories, checked 22,000 prison inmates and found only 4 college graduates. In "Who's Who" 91% were college graduates, and he commented that "intelligence and knowledge produce right living" and that "crime is the offspring of superstition and ignorance." Surveyed Massachusetts reformatories found every inmate religious, carefully herded by chaplins. In Joliet, there were 2,888 Catholics, 1,020 Baptists, 617 Methodists and 0 non-religious. Fifty-two percent of people belong to no church, yet live clean lives and supply less than 1% of the total criminal population. So much for religious indoctrination.
Does that study take into consideration the disadvantages of atheism in prison? e.g. recommendations from the prison chaplain and increased possibility of parole? A lot of atheists lie in prison as they do everywhere else about their true affiliations. I would like to see a study comparing the religious beliefs of people before and during prison life.
Well, SAM, I really don't know how many inmates lied. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I think "intelligence and knowledge produce right living" is an accurate conclusion.
There can be no real prison reform until we realize that social illness is no different from mental illness and it is not prisons or assylums but treatment which is needed. Only people who are a danger to themselves and others should actually be confined.
Then its time to apply that conclusion. Studies show that 49% of prison inmates attend at least one religious service a year in prison And this is inspite of the "goodies" that come with religious participation Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Also the relationship between reliegious attachment and recividism is an inverse one: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! There are many many more studies here and the bulk of the evidence does not support your assertions. I agree with Leo, why not use what has been shown to work, rather than pretend its not worth it because its against your beliefs?
Interesting viewpoint. Taken to its logical conclusion, we can assume that all "religious" people are really lying atheists, and that only those who admit to being atheists are honest. Can you prove you aren't an atheist, SAM? If you claim not to be, how do we know you aren't just a lying atheist?
You might as well say that affete intellectuals make up only 1% of prison populations. Duh. Well, that's true. You sort of have to be tough to end up in prison, don't you. Besides, you are talking about Self Conscious admitted Atheists. The Atheists one really has to worry about are the ones who had never given it a second thought -- the people who simply do not care one way or another. The Largest Part of Humanity today have no Intellectual Viewpoints. Especially in Prison. There are probably Prisoners who admit to Religion but only as an Ethnic Identifier... as with the Catholic Irish. It does not mean they BELIEVE in Religion, but it is one of the ways in which they identify the Community to which they belong. Maybe if the Atheists had a more Identifiable Community then more Bad Asses in Prison would admit to it. As it is now, it would probably only earn them a good ass-kicking.
No, you just have to be convicted and sentenced to prison. Also it is quite possible to be a tough atheist. Atheism has nothing to do with intelligence or toughness. You just have to not be a gullible idiot. And why would one have to worry about apatheists? If you meet god ask him why theists are so stupid.
