Comment Re:Prison population (Score 1) 407
Welfare does not reduce poverty structurally; it merely reduces the effects temporarily. If a government wants to really reduce poverty, it should invest in education and everything that fosters the creation of jobs in the long term.
You could say the same thing about the prison system.
On the other hand, (pure speculation), I wonder if temporarily reducing the effects of poverty can have a long term effect by increasing the ability of impoverished parents to help their children get a good education and reducing the need for parents to work two to three jobs to make ends meet using time that might be better spent being good influences on their children.