Community or Custody? Why probation can be tougher than incarceration – Wall Street Journal

A very interesting blog picked up by the Wall Street Journal about the penal system in the USA.

‘Sitting in a jail cell isn’t that hard compared to confronting bad habits, addiction, working a steady job and eliminating negative influences in one’s life. Indeed, too often prison is little more than an easy substitute for requiring offenders to do those things. Everyone would be better off – victims, offenders and taxpayers – with a justice system which recognized that fact and focused on changing behaviors, where possible, instead of mere punishment/incapacitation…’