Posted on 03/29/2009 11:25:48 AM PDT by MetaThought
America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.
We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration. Twenty-five years ago, I went to Japan on assignment for PARADE to write a story on that country's prison system. In 1984, Japan had a population half the size of ours and was incarcerating 40,000 sentenced offenders, compared with 580,000 in the United States. As shocking as that disparity was, the difference between the countries now is even more astounding--and profoundly disturbing. Since then, Japan's prison population has not quite doubled to 71,000, while ours has quadrupled to 2.3 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at parade.com ...
Who would you trust in a dark alley at midnight? A Japanese person? Or a ????
I guess Jim wants to fix the federal prisons so when Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and company can live in luxury when the U.S. attorneys go after them?
“fix”
liberalese, verb.
(1) to screw completely up
(2) to make insecure
(3) to increase democrat funds
(4) to ensure democrat electoral victory
(5) to make dangerous
What a shallow article.
We have more people in prison because we enforce laws (for the most part).
We have more people in prison because we have dysfunctional minorities (African-Americans and Latinos) that can’t break their own cycles of crime.
Obama’s solution is declare war on Anglos. Makes a lot of sense!
Somehow though the same criminal justice system finds enough money to buy and install speed-cams, “special weapons”, lavish court-houses, and regal judges chambers. Hmmm.
So, Obama should run state prisons and city jails, too?
Washington D.C. gets to make ALL the laws for ALL the states?
Judging from his writings, he probably also wants a free pass for child molesters.
“Thank God we got penitentiaries” - Richard Pryor
Japan is a mono-culture, where social structures, shame, and a sense of honor to family help to keep many on the straight and narrow.
Not so much here.
First, we do not have enough people in prison at this time.
As evidenced by the recent Oakland, CA shooting, we send dangerous predators into our society on the advice of ‘experts’ who rarely get it right as witnessed by the recidivism rate.
We do not need more ‘experts’ to tell us how to turn convicted predators into polite citizens.
It is a proven fact that prisons do not rehabilitate.
Therefore he prisons need to become an austere hell hole that provides the incentive to go good so you never have to come back.
How about people not committing crimes? Is that too deep for the Senator?
Forget this crap about rehabilitation first of all
Drug dealers: First time conviction, off with a warning. Next time conviction: shot on sight
First degree murderers, rapist, child molesters, pedophiles: Life Solitary confinement or death penalty (you choose)
Any petty crime, robbery, larceny, battery, and the like crimes.
The judge gives you a hammer and a boulder, the size depending on what you did, turn that boulder into gravel and you get to go home. The bigger the crime, the bigger the boulder.
No TV, no weight benches no rec time, just breaking a big boulder into gravel 12 hours a day, three squares and a cot and a shower.
How many guys would want to go back to prison after breaking a 10,000 lb boulder into gravel for 5 years?
The prisons wouldn’t be so crowded, if we would EXECUTE some criminals. Can we not outsourse that to the Red Chinese?
New Hampshire’s doing its part to fulfill Jim Webb’s vision (barf):
State Considers Change To Parole System
New Division Would Allow Parolees To Remain Free (even after violating their parole agreements, as long as the violations don’t involve new crimes)
http://www.wmur.com/news/19039023/detail.html
Drugs are the other big issue. After years of weighing options I now believe decriminalization is the only way to take the profit out of drugs. No huge profits, no criminal motive. I know that may sound like capitulation to some. I stick by it. The billions now being spent would be better directed to rehabilitation of drug users, drug education and regulation of their taxable distribution, just like liquor.
Socially, the melting pot is not working at all. With all our social problems, it's a good thing we have a lot of captialism to pay for our social problems.
IIRC the Yakuza are a criminal caste and recognized publicly, no?
Here that would be the DNC. Maybe Webb’s on to something?
Look at this little verbal trick he pulls. We are not founded on "fundamental fairness" at all.
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