first, it means we create a system that addresses crime as an outcome, not a cause unto itself, with a refocus from reactive measures (that is, our current system) to preventative ones (increased social services, etc.). this would cost billions of dollars, but good news! there's billions available in the pigs' piggybank.

after a crime is committed, it means focusing on restorative justice integrating offenders back into purposeful, beneficial work--especially work tailored to making victims of crime whole--instead of just locking them in a box and pretending that does anything other than facilitate more crime down the road. it doesn't have to be a labor camp, which is just a prison by another name, but it can at least be something more akin to a job.

i hate hypotheticals, but let's imagine a crime that can't be prevented merely due to lifting someone out of poverty, domestic violence, for example. domestic violence rates are higher among the poor, but not zero among the affluent. under the current system, poorer offenders are locked up while wealthier domestic abusers usually get probation. in both case, nothing happens to make the victims safer or restored.

under a restorative justice model, one option (but certainly not the only one) would be putting these offenders under supervised work programs benefiting their victims in some manner, either directly through payouts or systemically in services that tangentially boost the well being of those partners. that is NOT to say that we putremoveds out mowing the lawns of their victims every weekend, but any model that prioritizes the restoration of the victim would be better than what we have now.