Yet more evidence that a system based on punitive thinking is far less effective than one based on one focused on enabling people to meet their responsibilities. It reminds me of the difference in the recidivism rates between countries that focus on prison as punishment and segregation from society and those that focus on it as a pathway back to functioning in and contributing to society.

Of course, in each setting, you’ll find people who have no interest in meeting their financial or personal responsibilities to their families or in contributing to society. But any system that treats those who won’t the same as those who can’t without help means its families and societies are the poorer for it.