Opinion (José Lúcio / Judge): all prisoners, and this resolves all?
Prisons currently enjoy a strange popularity. Today the Portuguese excited with the possibility of attaching themselves to each other. Talk to any vague offense or suspected more or less founded and immediately bursts the cry - should all be arrested!
José Lúcio
(Judge President of Beja County)
If we look at complaints that explode daily in the media and social networks - the comment boxes see yourself - we are led to think that half the country was satisfied only after getting hold other means. And like the feeling of these halves is inevitably reciprocal, it is not clear anyone unsuspected to stay outside guarding the crowd of prisoners.
Talk about corruption - should all be arrested. Contact is political - should all be arrested. Talk to thefts or sexual abuse - they should all be arrested. Sometimes there is talk to judges and see the same outburst - should go all arrested.
The joy with which it is welcome news that someone went to jail and the immense frustration that are received the news referring to someone who was not, the longing and the lush aspiration for more and more prisons, They seem to naturally intriguing. This devotion to the chain, or the naive belief that mass arrests can solve social problems of various kinds, should be something new, own of our time and society.
Previously people were suspicious of prisons, and condoÃam up of prisoners. was not unpopular or bad view the work of mercy sent to all care for prisoners.
Of course there were also crowds always demanding forces or fires, when the winds pushed in this direction. But this fetishism by the chain is new thing. In ancient society the chain was only a place of passage - which awaited any destination. Even if the situation eternizasse, the chain was seen as just as a waiting room for those who deserve pity or punishment seriously unfair to those who do not deserve it.
Observing or phenomenon, worship by prisons, We found associated with a set of perceptions that are installed peacefully as indisputable and which are clearly erroneous (in a way that can be verified by anyone interested in making sure, this attitude which obviously does not occur).
from logo, the feeling of insecurity, or the feeling of alarming increase in crime. Nothing worth noting that Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world, and lower crime rates, according to all indicators available. Nothing is worth noting that in Portugal the violent crime has been decreasing since known statistics (anyone today imagine what it was violent crime in rural and urban Portugal of a hundred years ago).
Tell yourself what you say, the image created remains, stubborn and immovable.
Another example might be the lightness of feathers, or mildness of justice. The truth is that the figures available indicate that the average length of prison sentences imposed for here is greater than in most European countries.
What about the use of prison sentence, it is clear that our incarceration rate is very high when compared to our European counterparts. None of the European countries of similar size to ours has such a number of prisoners. And thinking only in national terms, we can for these years, a prison population with an unknown expression in any previous period (It has reached nearly fourteen thousand prisoners in a population as the Portuguese is remarkable and singular work).
In short: the conviction of public insecurity, rising crime, the softness of feathers, the little use of imprisonment (no one goes to jail!) They seem to be optical illusions, that like all entrenched beliefs are very difficult to combat with rational arguments (the parties do not want to know).
End even confiding a question that always kept on the desired effectiveness for widespread use of imprisonment. Look at the American example and then yes there has an impressive rate of incarceration. Stuck to millions. However, we have to ask for the results. American society is safer, peaceful and quiet than our? There are fewer robberies, less shootings, less homicides? What were the results of this policy? Who can answer that responds. For me just wanted to leave a wake-up call. Let us be prudent, and let us not fall into simple answers to complex questions.
(Text written under the previous rule to spell AO1990, by the author's option)
