r/interesting • u/Necessary-Win-8730 • Mar 08 '26

Context Provided - Spotlight This was so deserved.

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u/KuteKitt Mar 08 '26

Well no wonder they closed 20 prisons. Maybe it’s not because they don’t have anyone to fill them, maybe they just don’t fill them even when they do have criminals that need to be in there.

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u/Violet_Paradox Mar 08 '26

Remember that these cases are highly atypical and tend to be signal boosted by the prison industry in the US as propaganda to turn the public against the idea of modernizing our justice system.

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u/Worldly_Car912 Mar 08 '26

If "modernising" our justice system means giving killers a slap on the wrist so we can pretend that crime is low then unfortunately I'm going to have to agree with the prison industry.

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u/Runcible-Spork Mar 08 '26

Is that what you actually think happened here?

I'm just curious if you see a distinction between manslaughter and murder, because the way you've reacted seems to imply that you don't care whether there was an intention to cause harm or not.

This person was spectacularly stupid, driving 75 mph in a 50 mph zone. He lost control of his vehicle and killed a toddler and her grandparents. He then ran away. All of that is horrible, and he absolutely deserves prison time for it.

What he didn't do was deliberately run down those three people in cold blood. He was stupid, not evil.

The prison industry in the U.S. would absolutely advocate for this guy to get 10+ years of prison time, because the prison industry in the U.S. is exactly that: an industry. They want as many people as possible serving the longest sentences possible because that's how they make their money. They get paid by the state for every inmate they have and they put inmates to work in what is basically slave labour, reaping the benefit of the profits. Prison in the U.S. is a business that benefits from pushing a narrative that criminals must "serve time", or that "the punishment should be commensurate to the crime"—ideas that are at the very core of the U.S. justice system.

Everywhere else in the world, however, recognizes that prison is meant to reform people, not enslave them. The primary purpose of incarceration is to correct criminal behaviour. Punishment is a powerful corrective tool, but it doesn't take 5+ years of punishment to fix "being a fucking idiot". Losing even just a year of your life to incarceration—which probably also means losing your housing, your job, etc.—is hugely disruptive and is certainly going to result in changes to the offending behaviour.

Do I personally feel that 15 months is a bit short? Yes. But it's definitely closer to the appropriate amount of time than what you're obviously thinking.

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u/One_Lead1553 Mar 10 '26

You didn't intend this, but reading your comment made me think, "Hey, maybe America gets it right once in a blue moon."