Taciturn

What stops you breaking the law?

For me it isn't the threat of jail, and I wonder if it really is for anyone. The biggest thing for me is just my conscience. Obviously there are people in the community for whom a conscience won't stop them doing a lot of things. For instance I'm not a tight-arse when it comes to stopping at stop signs. If it's safe to slow down to a reasonable speed, then that's often all I'll do. However when it comes to destroying life, I'm not willing to do so without a good reason.

I don't even know what prison is like. Perhaps crime would be reduced if there were compulsory visits to prisons for students as part of the school curriculum, however this brings up all kinds of issues. Prisoners not wanting to be paraded (however maybe that's just one of the anti-perks of being imprisoned), safety for prison visitors, and maintaining the security of prisoners. I'm sure that could all be organised by employing a few more guards and adequately informing visitors prior to their visits.

I wonder if any studies on this have been done. What deterrents are there other than the lock-up? Fines which amount to a week's pay for the average worker, or an hour's work for a snotty white-collar worker manager? The threat of a criminal record hampering one's ability to get a job anywhere other than with their state government?

I can't say they're terribly big deterrents.

OK, where'd I leave my semi? It's time to rampage.