MovieChat Forums > I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) Discussion > Crime and Punishment , Then and Now

Crime and Punishment , Then and Now

posted 17 years ago by Kanamit99
8 replies | jump to latest

After watching this excellent movie, I see how the criminal justice system has evolved over the last 75 years. In the 1920's, crime was treated very seriously with severe consequences for the perpetrator. We have gone from one extreme as portrayed in the movie in which prisoners are treated worse than dogs to the soft treatment of today. Prisoners have absolutely no rights all back then.
Now, in todays society, with the advent of human rights, prisoners get all the benefits of society: free educational programs, nutritious food, cable televison, and all sorts of physical activities. In fact prisoners of today get better treatment than many working poor, homeless people, and seniors.
To boot, crime is generally higher today than the early decades of the 20th century.
So, is society better off today than 75 years ago, with the improvement of prison life?

[–] Jordan_Haelend 17 years ago

I find it interesting that fewer people, proportionally, were sentenced to prison time in the 1930s than now, and that was when there were far fewer protections for suspects than is the case today. We imprison more of our citizens than any other western, civilized nation.

As for crime being up, a lot of convicts are locked up today for fairly innocuous reasons, e.g. many people do time for things like possession of marijuana. On the other hand, the number of violent crimes in recent years has declined.

"In fact prisoners of today get better treatment than many working poor, homeless people, and seniors."

I won't argue with this because I think it's true, but I think it should be addressed as a separate problem and tackled accordingly.

"An Archer is known by his aim, not by his arrows."
-Li Chen-Sung (Richard Loo) The Outer Limits

[–] rmax304823 17 years ago

Inmates are now treated more humanely, if that's what this is about, but prison is no luxury spa. They get decent food and they don't get whipped. Would we want it any different? We hear a lot about free college educations and so forth but mostly from a few sensational examples. The canny jailhouse lawyers we hear so much about are self taught. They've read the law books in the libraries. The vast majority of inmates learn nothing new except how to act like inmates.

There are a couple of paradoxes built into the penal system. One is that the tougher the program is, the more respect the inmate gets in the prison subculture for having been there. Places like Sing Sing are notorious hell holes. Place like Chico, in California, are relatively clean and safe. And if an inmate has a resume that includes Sing Sing, he gets a lot more in the way of politeness and admiration than the guy from Chico. Who do you have more respect for -- the guy who's served in the Marine Corps or the guy who worked in the Forest Service? It's that kind of difference.

[–] stanleybix-1 16 years ago

I do not believe in the rehabilitation of violent criminals. The recidivism (return to crime) rate is just too high. Decent society MUST be protected from murderers, muggers, rapists, etc. The longer these people are locked away, the safer the streets are for citizens.

[–] lfdow 15 years ago

You are sadly misinformed about conditions in today’s jails and prisons. While, as noted elsewhere here, it’s true that prisoners are no longer subjected to regular corporal punishment, it is wrong to characterize jails and prisons as being luxury accommodations. The food is barely adequate and not tasteful, the facilities are minimal and perhaps worse of all the treatment of and attitude toward offenders is demeaning. In many facilities temperatures range from too cold to much too hot and there often is little or no hot water. While there often are nominal recreation and recreational facilities, all too often offenders are prohibited from using them. Offenders are often given no more than 10-15 minutes to eat. In most institutions educational opportunities are simply nonexistent. In all too many facilities medical and dental treatment is inadequate. I dare say that none of the posters here who complains of how well offenders are treated would ever trade their freedom or their comforts for life in an institution.

[–] infinity8 13 years ago

lfdow is right. Many people do not want to improve conditions for prisoners because they figure that the prisoners deserve any punishment possible short of a beating.

Politicians who sell a tough-on-crime image of themselves are often popular. Take Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who houses prisoners in tents in the high temperatures of Maricopa County, forces prisoners to wear pink underwear to shame them, and has reinstituted the practice of chain gangs (though Arpaio's gangs do not perform hard labor).

[–] sonofbeach-sheet 11 years ago

Maybe if we were like Singapore, crime would be much less. In Singapore, a serious offense gets maybe 10 years, but in addition to that, they are beaten with a rattan cane on their bare butt, which is probably the most horrible pain imaginable. The wounds are hideous, but nothing like what the pain of the cane is. You can't sit down, sleep, eat, or poop for weeks after it's happened, even from just a few strokes

[–] marktayloruk (2422) 3 months ago

Ironic that Arpaio.was himself convicted later! America tends to.overdo things- including jail.sentences.

[–] 11 years ago

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