Quote:
Originally Posted by Hippie3  instead of jail for minor offenses
there just is no reason why an offender
can't be given
house arrest
and 24 / 7 monitoring by GPS
and
various sensors to monitor her 'condition',
perhaps even
video surveillance in her home. |
This is an interesting idea, but I have a lot of questions about how it would be implemented. Obviously you'd have to make an allowance for the arrestee to be allowed to go to work, otherwise the person would starve within their own house.
Right now, I'm guessing house arrest is up to the judge's discretion. If it was our primary method of punishment for nonviolent criminals, then the severity of punishment would depend upon the financial well-being of the person convicted.
So Paris, for example, would have 45 days in a palatial estate with HDTV, plush couches, a swimming pool, and a jacuzzi. A poor person living in a rented 2-bedroom apartment would spend his 45 days with far less. This would only serve to highlight the inequalities in our justice system.
Jail may be torture (that's another discussion), but at least it is an equalizer. "Equal justice under law", isn't that the principle we're supposed to aspire to in our legal system?