1. A variety of mental disorders have been linked to criminal activities.
Discuss whether criminals who have been deemed mentally ill should be incarcerated for their offenses or be housed in a mental health facility.
Is it appropriate to incarcerate someone with a mental illness? Are they "getting away" with the crime if they are housed in a mental health facility instead of a prison?
2. Day fines are fines that are levied proportionally according to the severity of the crime and the financial resources of the offender. In the case of a crime that requires more than a fine as punishment; incarceration for a determined number of days can be given.
In the Day Fine system, incarceration is considered a financial punishment because it prevents one from going to work during that incarceration.
Day Fines are argued to be a "just" punishment because if both the high and low income population are punished with the same jail time; they should also be punished with a proportionally similar income loss.
What do you think? Are Day Fines a reasonable alternative to more traditional types of punishment used in the United States? What do you think of a fine being levied based on the income of the subject being fined over the crime they commit. Would you say that is "just"? Why or why not?