and it goes deeper than that, too Zoff. Each change of administration in the locality will bring on new ‘tactics’ by the new person. A nearby county recently elected a new sherrif, based on his election promises (among other things, of course) to ‘get tougher’ on the inmates by changing the TV rules. He made it a big point to not allow the SuperBowl to be telecast.
So, not only has society not decided how they stand on ‘revenge/rehabilitation/deterrance/containment’ ideas and ideals, changing administrative and front line staff can have very divergent effects as well.
and, as I pointed out in another recent thread on the general topic, because of these rapid changes, we don’t even have time to see if any of the particular differences in philosphy have an effect, let alone determine if it’s the effect we desire.