Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
NEW YORK - For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.
NEW YORK - For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.
Wouldn't this be, in part, because we have just about criminalized everything? The irony is that though we've effectively shed traditional morals for libertine living, we have made illegal what was once just good sense--you can't smoke in restaurants, you have to wear your seatbelts, etc. etc. etc. When you can no longer trust people to act right on their own accord, you have to use coercive legislation.
For somebody in law (and those who are not), it's truly mind-boggling.
Wouldn't this be, in part, because we have just about criminalized everything? The irony is that though we've effectively shed traditional morals for libertine living, we have made illegal what was once just good sense--you can't smoke in restaurants, you have to wear your seatbelts, etc. etc. etc. When you can no longer trust people to act right on their own accord, you have to use coercive legislation.
For somebody in law (and those who are not), it's truly mind-boggling.
I wouldn't be surprised to someday see a person put in jail for things like smoking in a restaurant or not wearing a seatbelt. If you criminalize everything, there will always be a reason if you want to get someone out of circulation. This goes along with that thread awhile back about what happened to common sense. I'm sure some would like to link not wearing seat belts to being a terrorist - as stupid as this may seem. A reason can always be thought up to justify it.
WestCoDude: "Wouldn't this be, in part, because we have just about criminalized everything?"
Westco, tell us ONE case of someone who is in prison today because they smoked or failed to use a seatbelt.
That's quite a leap, violating a smoking ordinance or a seat belt law, and ending up in prison. This slippery-slope reasoning is what's mind-boggling to me!
WestCoDude: "Wouldn't this be, in part, because we have just about criminalized everything?"
Westco, tell us ONE case of someone who is in prison today because they smoked or failed to use a seatbelt.
That's quite a leap, violating a smoking ordinance or a seat belt law, and ending up in prison. This slippery-slope reasoning is what's mind-boggling to me!
Yes, but people go to prison for using drugs.
I've never used. I don't feel a need to use. If my children ever use, I'll frog-march them into rehab.
That being said, explain to me how this is the government's business. Yet a huge proportion of our prison population is comprised of people who broke the country's drug laws, something that has a very dubious basis under the Constitution. All because some bluenoses disapprove of it.
So yeah, he was indulging in hyperbole, but he wasn't that far off, either.
The first organized corrections systems began in southern U.S. cities where because of the Emancipation Proclamation they had just lost their free labor market. The trend of the overrepresentation of blacks and hispanics in prison systems crosses the Mason-Dixon line but in northern prisons the direct sourcing of inmate labor for state revenue is not as well established an industry but every inmate that is in prison be it north or south is providing employment for upwards of 11 people every single day.
H
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
