Unstable political regimes have a tendency to release all the prisoners if they feel they are imminently about to be overthrown (leaving a scorched earth for the next regime to have to deal with). However, this is inadvertently a correction mechanism for an imperfect justice system, freeing those wrongfully imprisoned, those whose sentences are too long (e.g., due to mandatory sentencing), and those imprisoned due to a unjust law. (Until the next regime catches them again.)
No justice system is perfect.
In our stable political system, we do not have this mechanism. We hold records for the oldest constitutional government and highest incarceration rate. These might be related.
No comments :
Post a Comment