UTOPIA: A SOCIETY BASED ON HELPING PEOPLE RATHER THAN PUNISHING THEM

What's the worst type of criminal? The drug dealer? The rapist? The murderer? The sex offender? No matter what this "criminal" has done, what is the best way to help him or her?

Many people say "lock them up" or "burn them". Let them suffer the way they've made others suffer. But does anyone step back and look at how they have already suffered?

From 1995 to 1997, the CDC conducted the Adverse Childhood Experience Study. What they found was shocking to many, but evident to anyone who stopped to think about why people do the things they do. The study found that people who had more ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) were more likely to engage in a number of anti-societal behaviors, including illicit drug use, smoking, suicide attempts, risky sexual behavior, and on and on, to the point that they would die younger.

From the CDC website.

People who had been molested or sexually assaulted as children, were more likely to commit those same acts as adults. People who had been abused and neglected were more likely to turn to drugs, alcohol, and sex as coping mechanisms. People who had been exposed to violence as children were more likely to repeat those same violent acts as adults. 

So what is the solution? What should we do to help someone who is addicted to meth because they turned to the drug due to multiple ACEs as a child? What should we do to someone who grew up poor, and remains poor, and turns to stealing as a way to meet ends meat?

Society's response has been to lock them up. Send them to convict school, where they can learn the tools of the trade from truly violent, anti-social members of society. Put the drug addicts into the prisons where drugs are just as, if not more, prevalent than on the streets. And when they're finished with that, let's get them the help they need from overworked probation officers who don't have the high-level psychiatric training or counseling skills to even start helping these people deal with their deep-seeded problems.

From the Wikipedia page on "Incarceration in the United States".

Obviously, if someone violates a child or commits murder they should face the consequences of their actions. Not all offenders want the help they need, but the fact remains that they need help. Instead of spending trillions on our prison population to send people to "time out", what if we focused that money on the underlying causes of anti-social behavior? Does the pedophile have anywhere to turn? Can s/he seek help? Can s/he talk to anyone about his/her impulses and try to understand where they stem from? Facing a society that refuses to support them, and would most likely prefer to punish them before a crime has even been committed, what should we expect these people to do?

A woman who turns to prostitution and drug use to fill the void based on trauma and/or neglect from her childhood is not a criminal. She's a victim. A man who turns his fists towards women because of abuse in his past is not a criminal. He's a victim. If addiction is a disease, then it should be treated as one, with psychological evaluation and medical treatment. Addicts shouldn't be condemned to the hell of prison. They shouldn't be quarantined like they have the plague, they should be helped, so they can go on to be productive and happy members of society.