Over time, my thoughts on prison have evolved. I no longer consider their purpose to be punishment, but instead simply segregating people from society who refuse to follow the rules of society. The segregation is enough punishment itself, more punishment doesn't need to be heaped on.
I dunno, I think forcibly imprisoning someone under false pretenses counts as violence. Not the clear-cut obvious violence of throwing a punch or firing a gun, but still violence nonetheless.
I prefer to look at it in terms of the harm caused to other people, and how direct that harm is.
* Use illegal drugs? No direct harm to anyone else.
* Deal drugs? Indirect harm to others.
* Put someone in prison for crimes you know they didn't commit? Direct harm to others. (And on top of that, abuse of the trust that the public has put in you, in allowing you to have that power over others.)
The magnitude of harm should also factor in, but I think that's a discussion for another day.
True, the “lying under oath” is compounded “not coming clean when people go to jail” and then the option of jail is on the table.
But for some cases, excessive monetary fines may be better (especially if the person who would go to jail is a low level expendable peon but the large fine would come from the company).
People may not be much deterred by punishments but large enough judgements scare the shit out of lawyers.
A corollary to this would be non-violent offenders would be sent to Camp Cupcake, the violent ones to a prison with cells to keep them from preying on their fellow inmates.
