For all these problems, whether it is homelessness or criminality like assaults and whatnot, there are two types of solutions. One is an immediate solution that simply puts a stop to the undesirable behavior, potentially by throwing the perpetrator in prison. The second attempts to address root causes that lead people to engaging in these behaviors in the first place. In my ideal world we would pursue both, as one does not exclude the other. But if my only 2 choices are "throw them in prison forever" or "build free mental health clinics and maybe they will choose to use them, maybe this will fix them and maybe in 10-20 years the problem will go away" I'm going with prison forever every time. The "prison forever" solution is guaranteed to make the problem (such as it is from my perspective) go away forever. If there is a homeless guy in the park there is really no chance of prison failing, in the sense that it is guaranteed to solve the problem I care about, that being that there is a homeless guy in the park I want to use. The other solution might work at some indeterminate point in the future. If there is a homeless guy in a park that I want to use there is only way to fix my problem tomorrow
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For all these problems, whether it is homelessness or criminality like assaults and whatnot, there are two types of solutions. One is an immediate solution that simply puts a stop to the undesirable behavior, potentially by throwing the perpetrator in prison. The second attempts to address root causes that lead people to engaging in these behaviors in the first place. In my ideal world we would pursue both, as one does not exclude the other. But if my only 2 choices are "throw them in prison forever" or "build free mental health clinics and maybe they will choose to use them, maybe this will fix them and maybe in 10-20 years the problem will go away" I'm going with prison forever every time. The "prison forever" solution is guaranteed to make the problem (such as it is from my perspective) go away forever. If there is a homeless guy in the park there is really no chance of prison failing, in the sense that it is guaranteed to solve the problem I care about, that being that there is a homeless guy in the park I want to use. The other solution might work at some indeterminate point in the future. If there is a homeless guy in a park that I want to use there is only way to fix my problem tomorrow
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