Are Crime and Incarceration Predictable and Preventable?

As an alumnus, I recently read an article published in the Johns Hopkins Magazine written about a part-time faculty member in their distinguished Bloomberg School or Public health, Gerald Eber.  Eber is also an ACLU lawyer whose primary concern has been the health care of Americans in prison.  The medical treatment of prisoners, in Eber’s view, is “…heartbreaking. The system is sick.”  He sites many compelling (and some revolting) cases that clearly evidence this conclusion. The problem expressed by another senior scientist at the Bloomberg School, Leonard Rubenstein: “There is a system of punishment in this country based on locking them up and taking away their freedom. That’s it. ….  There is nothing in our system of law that authorizes harm, no matter how terrible a person you are. That is not part of constitutionalized civil order. And quite frankly, it’s barbaric.” When asked about “why we should care” about people in prison, even these distinguished Americans obviously trying their hardest to help come up with only a partial answer.  We should care, they argue, because prisons should be all about rehabilitation, and not about torture or deprivation. We should care, they point out, because the rule of law does not end at the front gate of a prison. We should care, they argue, because most people we maltreat or don’t treat will be released from prison, and shall live amongst the rest of us once again. We should care, for justice’s sake, ...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Autism Origins, Treatments Brain Fitness Brain Plasticity Brain Science Brain Trauma, Injury BrainHQ Cognitive impairments Neuroscience Posit Science deprivation incarceration prison Source Type: blogs