Karovorak posted... My problem with most of the "they don't need to be in prision, they need therapy" comments is that they somehow see the offender as a victim who needs help and therapy, but ignore the victims and other people who need help and therapy too.
Mental healthcare is already fucked up all over the world. We need more therapist and mental healthcare for everyone in society.
I had to get therapy too, and had to pay it out of my own pocket because our social system (even here in europe) acts like that mental health isn't that important.
Someone assault someone else and ends up in jail? They are a harm for the society, we have to treat them and care for them!
Someone just suffers alone and only harms themselfes? Well, sounds like a you problem.
We have a very very big issue with mental health all over the world. That's not exclusive to the US, Europe or anywhere else. This has to be solved, and ffs, I don't think that criminals should be the priority for that, when there are already more than enough people not commiting crimes also needing it just as much as them, if not even more.
Fix the mental health system for everyone before you think about fixing it for people in prison.
People who isolate themselves out of depression and despair need the rehabilitation to come back into society too, even if they don't break the law.
i agree with most of your post esp. the first paragraph. Idk, do most americans disagree with that first part, maybe? I agree with it though.