Reply #2: Does criminal-justice involvement ever help any situation?

[Jed Dilligan]

As far as I can tell the courts just muck it up every time. People get caught peeing on a fence and end up being gang-raped for it. It's surreal. There was a kid whose dog bit another dog in SF, so social services took the kid away to a foster home where he was molested. All this trying to control society is like amputating a leg to treat a bunion.

The only situation I can think of where the courts kind-of helped is when my friend's brother was about to die from heroin, his family turned him in and he was able to clean up in prison. But then he became so dependent on the system that he hasn't been able to stay out; he does something violent and stupid to get sent back within a couple of weeks every time they let him out. Hmm, wonder if rehab would have been better for him after all...