Originally Posted by Mr. UnderHill
Excuse me? Schools are vastly overcrowded, teachers are underpayed, and underqualified. Especially in inner citys. When a child is born to a drug addict mother who's working a minimum wage job, and can't afford food or medicine...that child grows up to be a problem! And that problem is everyone's problem! That's the child that puts a gun to your head and asks you for your wallet. Did he have a choice? Of course! Should he be punished? Of course! But instead of wasting millions to incarcerate that man, and many like him. Couldn't we spend the millions to help that mother out and prevent it from happening in the first place?
:werd: It's the difference between "Before the pipe" and "After the pipe" solutions. Preventative solutions always work better for cheaper, but since the response is not immediate, and often takes a decade to realize, people choose to wait and solve the problem after it happens... They think it's cheaper because they get to keep the money now... but the consequences are almost always more expensive in the end.