Addiction

[paigetheoracle]

In your experience (note, not opinion), is it harder to give up a social (shared) addiction or an individual (selfish) one?

 

I ask because of the statement made by a criminal on TV that burglary gave them a high, like playing hide and seek, and also that prisoners returned to the community, returned to crime because they found themselves with the same temptations/ connections/ environment, that led them to offend in the first place.

[Theory5]

In your experience (note, not opinion), is it harder to give up a social (shared) addiction or an individual (selfish) one?

 

I ask because of the statement made by a criminal on TV that burglary gave them a high, like playing hide and seek, and also that prisoners returned to the community, returned to crime because they found themselves with the same temptations/ connections/ environment, that led them to offend in the first place.

 

I don't know much about addictions. The only addiction I have is to soda, and I just say that as a joke, its not really true.

I do know however that it is harder to go your own way when your friends or a group of your peers are pushing you another way. I have had this experience many times, but it was always something trivial, like throwing in some money for a pizza. So taken from what i know, if you are being pressured into doing something by a group, it can be harder to decide than deciding by yourself. In many TV shows criminals get out of jail, and try to lead a better life then their "friends" pressure them into stealing or burglarizing or something.

Criminals going back to their old lives are perfect examples of why our judicial system doesn't work. I can think of much more effective forms of punishment that don't in any way rob people of their rights. Such as permanent isolation for the duration of your sentence, interacting with people only a few times a week for a few years then gradually move prisoners out of isolation and put them into groups with other prisoners and see how they behave. I have a theory that extended isolation from peers results in almost the verge of a mental breakdown and they would revert to an almost childlike stage, where interaction with peers would help to heal them. And of course you can't do that to people for decades, so shorter sentences would be required, then instead of a parole board, a form of psychological examination could make the decision.

Imagine a prison full of prisoners who are happy just to be with other humans. I'm not sure if that would be a violation of human rights, if it is I don't want it to happen.

 

Something to think about,

Theory

[paigetheoracle]

I don't know much about addictions. The only addiction I have is to soda, and I just say that as a joke, its not really true.

I do know however that it is harder to go your own way when your friends or a group of your peers are pushing you another way. I have had this experience many times, but it was always something trivial, like throwing in some money for a pizza. So taken from what i know, if you are being pressured into doing something by a group, it can be harder to decide than deciding by yourself. In many TV shows criminals get out of jail, and try to lead a better life then their "friends" pressure them into stealing or burglarizing or something.

Criminals going back to their old lives are perfect examples of why our judicial system doesn't work. I can think of much more effective forms of punishment that don't in any way rob people of their rights. Such as permanent isolation for the duration of your sentence, interacting with people only a few times a week for a few years then gradually move prisoners out of isolation and put them into groups with other prisoners and see how they behave. I have a theory that extended isolation from peers results in almost the verge of a mental breakdown and they would revert to an almost childlike stage, where interaction with peers would help to heal them. And of course you can't do that to people for decades, so shorter sentences would be required, then instead of a parole board, a form of psychological examination could make the decision.

Imagine a prison full of prisoners who are happy just to be with other humans. I'm not sure if that would be a violation of human rights, if it is I don't want it to happen.

 

Something to think about,

Theory

 

Interesting post! Firstly, permanent, voluntaryisolation is what monks do, in order to clear their thoughts and return to this calm, pristine state. I also believe that what the authorities have done unconsciously with solitary confinement, is the same thing but it is enforced because the violent can't/ won't do it for themselves.

 

As for the second point about human rights - people get stuck in prison because they have no concern for the human rights of others, hence murdering and robbing them. They are forcibly detained in the same way mental patients are because they have no insight/ control of their actions and endanger the lives of others as well as themselves by their actions or at the very least destabilize other people's lives because their lives are unstable too, in the first place.

 

Without calm, voluntary or enforced, we cannot get insight into our condition and move on. For instance I'm just back from holiday on an island off the west coast of Scotland, where I realized that the temper tantrums I carried out on the mainlandbecause I told myself that I had no other way of dealing with the situationwas pointless prejudice. Since being back I realized that I didn't need my migraine pills there because I didn't have the same angry attitude to life there.

 

The only thing I will say is that you can't force people to have insights into their lives, only hope that time will give them this as they step back from what they consider reality but is really illusion and stubborness. Society has no choice but to detain people, in order to lessen the chaos of rampant violence/ crime, which would interfere with the smooth running of civilization - hence that is what it does. Monks and nuns do it because they want their own lives to run smoothly, without the interference of other people and their own passions.