Absolutely. The freedom to end it seems integral to the freedom to exist in the first place.
As for whether or not we want to be humane in our treatment of prisoners; I agree that decent treatment does not matter if the only purpose of prison is deterrence. But there is this other idea that criminals might be rehabilitated, might somehow be of value in the future. If there is a chance that a person could be brought back to responsible citizenship and personhood, then doing things that destroy their psyche is counter productive. I would like to think that some people go to prison and come out better, instead of worse, than they were when they went in. I happen to know a few individuals who would say this is true for them....and are grateful. This seems to be increasingly rare....
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-08-28 11:46 pm (UTC)As for whether or not we want to be humane in our treatment of prisoners; I agree that decent treatment does not matter if the only purpose of prison is deterrence. But there is this other idea that criminals might be rehabilitated, might somehow be of value in the future. If there is a chance that a person could be brought back to responsible citizenship and personhood, then doing things that destroy their psyche is counter productive. I would like to think that some people go to prison and come out better, instead of worse, than they were when they went in. I happen to know a few individuals who would say this is true for them....and are grateful. This seems to be increasingly rare....