the skid mark that has evolved (1 Viewer)

[mdnuts]

America's business of prisons thrives even amid a pandemic

 

[AccessBlaster]

Just don't forget the victims....

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I seriously believe that the USA is the best country in the world. (Of course, as a citizen thereof, you could perhaps predict that.) Having said that, I do NOT say that they do everything right, and prisons are probably one of their worst failures. We have the highest per-capita incarceration rate in the world because we have such a backwards attitude towards criminal reform.

I firmly believe that people must be held responsible for their improper actions. However, states that have something so ludicrous as a "three-strikes-you-are-out" law that counts non-violent drug possession as a strike? They need to divert people into therapy. They need to consider that the homeless probably would be OK to work if they could, but many of them don't have the tools for it. So many states address the problem of crime by removing people from the street. (Which is appropriate for criminally violent people.) But they don't make the attempt to counsel, educate, retrain, or otherwise do something positive for people whose only crime is to be inept at living in society.

This of course stems from schooling issues and a near-meaningless juvenile "justice" system. It stems from politicians wanting to throw money at a problem in a "set it and forget it way." It stems from people being frustrated that they have not yet solved the problems of the pitifully poor part of the population. The "race" problem in the USA is tied into this and it comes from being unwilling to follow through on so many programs. We have tried to fix race relations with Head Start, Affirmative Action, Welfare, Supplemental Income programs, Government housing... the list goes on. Why? Because it would appear that our government cannot easily handle anything that requires long-term engagement.

 

[mdnuts]

The entire, write laws to appear tough on crime is a self-feeding situation. Tighter laws which pose more "criminal" situations, which equal more people in prison, which equal less opportunities for not only the imprisoned but their offspring as well... which leads to more criminal actions, which leads to more laws to appear tougher on crime. It's easy to say don't break laws, but what are you going to do when that's all you're faced with? Generations of kids who grow up knowing nothing other than gang life. Young kids who are roped into committing a crime when they're too young to know any difference - become institutionalized to the cycle. Prosecutors who brag about their conviction rates - as if it's a worthy goal to put American's behind bars rather than seen as a total failure. We take non-violent crimes and lock the person up - at a high cost to taxpayers, who get nothing in return, a debt to society is never paid. The war on drugs was a war on society.

 

[kevlray]

Unfortunately our criminal system has more problems than solutions. A lot of the criminals are 'created' long before they get in trouble. Poverty, gangs, a lot of young people not seeing any hope in their situation. Corruption at all levels of government feeding on the before mentioned items.