Abdallah - thanks for commenting. I think you ask the key question that the piece leads up to. I think the first point is that incarceration for what are considered low-level offenses needs to be drastically reduced if not abolished. If you look at the majority of people who are in Rikers based on low-level offenses, for instance, you find that the majority of them have either mental health problems or completely lack stable housing (or both). For these people, the "punishment" of jail time does nothing but (a) make their mental illnesses worse and (b) not address the underlying social, economic, and cultural forces that brought them into their situation in the first place. And I think it goes without saying that the prison system overall needs reform - we read about abuse from prison officials almost every day. Your point about "extreme" cases is probably the hardest? My gut says that there is still a role for incarceration for some people - especially people we think might be "Dangerous" again. But this is surely hard to quantify - and, more broadly, maybe I'm falling prey to my own faults/insecurities in wanting this type of punishment, too. I'd be curious to hear your take!