In any event, it always amuses me when people express surprise that criminals commit crime – and that when you group a bunch of criminals together (like, say, in jail) they don’t walk out ruminating on Kant, but instead, as criminals, do what criminals do – ie, commit crime. You’ve got your causation mixed up – it is not jail that causes people to commit crime, it is people being criminals that causes them to go to jail; and then, when they get out, they tend to commit other crimes. Not because of jail, but because they are criminals.
h/t to Kate.
