Bluetreefrog
You know there are other factors that influence the recidivism rate for both countries, but you’re ashamed to admit it because you know it detracts from your point.
You are ascribing a position to me that I don’t have.
- Confounding factors exist in all studies. They don’t invalidate the results, but you have to control for them. All well designed studies do this. Why on earth would I think that they don’t exist?
- You just won’t clarify what factors you want to talk about. Be specific and let’s see what research there is on it. Pointing to undefined factors and saying ‘…but other stuff!’ isn’t an argument in favor of your point, which was that “The main goal of prisons is to protect society from criminals by removing them and deterring others from committing crimes through fear of punishment.”
Nor have you provided any evidence for your point while I have provided links to several studies. Pony up some evidence for your argument or be prepared to learn and grow. Or remain stubbornly wedded to your incorrect opinion. Makes no difference to me.
Your question is vague and unanswerable as you haven’t clarified what “these differences” are, so their impact on recidivism can’t be determined.
What I do know is that rehabilitation has been shown to reduce recidivism more than sanctions/supervision. Here’s a meta-analysis for you. It looks like at least some of this data is from the US.
“Supervision and sanctions, at best, show modest mean reductions in recidivism and, in some instances, have the opposite effect and increase re-offense rates. The mean recidivism effects found in studies of rehabilitation treatment, by comparison, are consistently positive and relatively large.”
What evidence do you have that deterrence and supervision are more effective at reducing crime than rehabilitation?
I’m addressing your main point, which was:
The main goal of prisons is to protect society from criminals by removing them and deterring others from committing crimes through fear of punishment.
My point is that deterrence has been proven to be a poor tool to reduce crime. Rehabilitation has been proven to be a relatively more successful tool to reduce recidivism.
The Norwegian approach to prisoners is one piece of evidence in support of this. Here’s some more (non-Norwegian) evidence:
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/fear-punishment-deterrence
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7363&context=jclc
Of course there are other differences between the US and Norway, but that doesn’t change the validity of what I’m saying. If you want to argue that deterrence works, back it up with some evidence.
