I recently gave a presentation in Spanish class about crime and punishment in different countries. I was wondering what your views were on this? I know I've breached the subject a few times here, but this is a concrete question.

What punishments do you think there should be that there aren't?

Let's keep capital punishment out of the discussion, that could go on forever.

Personally, I am a fan of labour punishment. Let prison workers work, hard, for their stay. Let them clean the streets or dig holes or whatever. That way I won't have to pay for their food, and they have a harder time in prison to contemplate their crimes.

Not only that, but when they get out, if they do plan on reforming themselves, they will already have a new skillset.

I'm not opposed to hacking off the genitals of rapists and molesters. (since you said capital punishment was out).

Looking at punishment in a broader sense, I've noticed this new trend among some US moms to punish their kids by making them wear a sign around their neck.
Even though I admit it made me laugh, I don't think that's a good thing.

Labour punishment sounds good, not enough of that going on around here.

Hacking off genitals, not my cup of tea. Sounds like it'll produce a nice army of violent killers if you ask me

The topic of corporal punishment came up when I was training yesterday and some kids started spitting at us and mooning us (from a distance of course). They disappeared once we pointed out that we got a picture of them in the act!
In Britain it is now illegal to slap your child, which I think is ridiculous (keeping in mind that I'm NOT advocating HITTING a child, a slap is entirely different, it's not meant to hurt, just a reminder to be good.)
One opinion was that Singapore has it right with the national punishment being caning.

For certain types of lesser offenses, I'm a big proponent of community service. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Naomi Campbell on the news showing up for her stint cleaning the NYC Sanitation office wearing her high fashion outfits. And yes, the local news showed her arrival and/or departure every day for 5 days.

I would rather see Paris Hilton cleaning toilets somewhere, or some other useful job, than spending her 14 days or whatever it turns out to be in isolation in jail. Will jail change her behavior? I doubt it. She'll just be more careful about getting caught.

I agree. For some people just sitting in a jail cell for a while isn't gonna change a thing.

As far as slapping your kids goes, I think it's rediculous to make that illegal. I was slapped as a kid, and I turned out alright. It's not like there's any damage except for a few seconds of pain. But that's just my 9 cents.

I've always liked the Vulcan Death Grip on the shoulder... it's more subtle so you look like you're gently guiding your child, even as you're putting the squeeze on him. Mine will do anything to avoid The Grip.

Is that applied with/without the "wait till I get you home" spoken through gritted teeth?

Oh, yeah! You must be a gripper too. Or a grip-ee. :)

Maybe at a certain point grip-ee's turn into grip-pers?

My mom used to use the less familiar vulcan art of pulling the little hairs next to your ears...

I think I need a good spanking sometimes.

Here is the key to the problem. In (what I assume is) a sincere effort to prevent CHILD ABUSE, overreaction hamstrings parents. There is a lot of difference between spanking and beating. Up to a certain age, the only "reasoning" a child understands is "if I do this, I get punished". Once a basic sense of morals is established this way, then reason is possible. I was raised by this method, and so were my kids. I don't think it actually came down to spanking after about age 7. Even before that it was rare enough that the thought of it was scarier than the actual act.

But rather than deal with those that can't see the difference between spanking and beating, the answer must be OUTLAW SPANKING. Seems to be a common reaction, can't deal with the people, deal with he thing. Now we have an even greater abuse, children who are never taught to be a member of society.

Now people are shocked that we have gangs of children that do things we find morally shocking. Well, not only were many of these kids never taught any better by their parents, they have been taught that it is OK and expected to behave this way (by the gang). If they don't learn a moral code at home, they will learn it elsewhere. (Ever notice that anyone that makes it out of these situations and does good ALWAYS points back to a strick parent or grandparent as the reason they stayed out of gangs? Think they spanked? Think they were ABUSED?)

I completely agree.
I'm not saying of course that every child should be spanked, (I don't remember ever being slapped or spanked myself) but I do believe that is necessary sometimes with some children. Once they are old enough to understand right and wrong, corporal punishment should no longer be necessary (unless of course they are just 'born bad', so to speak ;) )

Karmic retribution from the monkey?

I wish my country had the death penalty.

Someone in mind, or just a general fealing of homocidalness? (is that a word?)

BTW: What country?

homocidal? Is that like killing gay people?

No, that is trying to PLIME and level a resource plan at the same time.

For the monkey!

I'm not down with physical punishment. Reform all the way. If someone is a molester, for instance, then they were probably molested as a child as well. They need lots of therapy. I don't think they should be roaming free, but putting them in prison with a bunch of guys who are gonna rape them is only going to screw them up more.

And I know we're not supposed to talk about the death penalty, but here's my two cents on it anyway: For horribly heinous crimes, don't kill them, let them rot in prison for the rest of their lives. Killing them ends their punishment and they get off easier that way. I'd much prefer serial killers have to rot away in prison, thinking about what they've done. Oh yes, and some therapy for them too :p

But they're rotting in prison ON MY PAYCHECK! Why should I pay for them to sit on their asses all day? Put them to work, use them for medical experiments, whatever.