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Originally Posted by STEED
Suspended sentence is a joke.
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From the perspective of behaviorism, it is indeed. From any other perspective I could imagine, it is as well. Suspended sentences should be forbidden. If a judge think it is justified that somebody deserves just a warning shot (for whatever reasons), he should make the penalty less severe. For example every juvenile stealing in a warehouse for the first time would go to jail with me being the judge, without exception. The point is that I probably wouldn't send him there for months, when it is the first time. Mybe - depending on the case and my impression of it - only for one week or so. Enough to get the message thoroughly felt by the offender and give him a chance to perceive that being in prison is not a comfortable thing. A penalty that is not felt is useless, from a psychological perspective.