Posted on 10/30/2020 10:03:37 AM PDT by ammodotcom
There’s no two ways about it: The United States of America and its 50 state governments love putting people in prison.
The U.S. has both the highest number of prisoners and the highest per capita incarceration rate in the modern world at 655 adults per 100,000. (It’s worth noting that China’s incarceration statistics are dubious, and they execute far more people than the United States. Indeed, the so-called People’s Republic executes more people annually than the rest of the world combined.) Still, that’s more than 2.2 million Americans in state and federal prisons as well as county jails.
On top of those currently serving time, 4.7 million Americans were on parole in 2016, or about one in 56. These numbers do not include people on probation, which raises the number to one in 35. Nor does it include all of the Americans who have been arrested at one time or another, which is over 70 million – more than the population of France.
For firearm owners in particular, the growth in this “prison-industrial complex” is troubling because felons are forbidden from owning firearms and ammunition under the 1968 Gun Control Act. As the number of laws has grown and the cultural shift for police has gone from a focus on keeping the peace to enforcing the law, more and more Americans are being stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights (not to mention other civil rights like voting – as of 2017, 6.1 million Americans cannot vote because of their criminal records). All told, eight percent of all Americans cannot own firearms because of a felony conviction.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
I don’t think America is over policed. I don’t think we over incarcerate. And I think we have lots of safeguards to keep things fair.
Considering that there are so many laws on the books that the average American professional commits 3 felonies a day, that stance isn’t reasonable.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229
Watch any documentary on America’s prisons, and the only conclusion one can draw is that most if not all deserve to be there.
This used to be my view. And, truth be told, it is still mainly my view. But, I have questions...
Look at how the criminal justice system has been manipulated against General Flynn.
Of course, his is a political persecution and not retribution for real criminal wrongdoing... but if the system can be turned against someonly like him, do you think it's not being used in similar fashion in other cases that we never even hear of?
I'm pro-cop, I'm pro-victims rights. But I'm also pro-truth and pro-justice.
The leftist talking heads ramble on about how dangerous it is that we're losing faith in so many institutions, but this loss of faith isn't completely random. Sometimes we have reason to lose that faith.
and in California, if you can’t pay the bail—don’t go to jail... this time around California is aiming to completely eliminate cash bail... apparently, it’s unfair to poor criminals...
Too timid to take a position on your own thread until you see what others write? :)
Ya know what?? We gotta be more like W Europe.
Rampant child sex trafficking in the open.
And hey, what’s a head rolling here or a head rolling there?
And complete neighborhoods that are no go zones.
America is a brutal regime that incarcerates WAY too many innocent yoots!!
BUT Ya know, even though it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to stay out of prison in the US, me and NINETEEN of my best friends growing up managed to do it!
Ain’t that a ####ing miracle!
Italians no less!
Well, 2 of us were of Irish descent. :)
IS it that you’re sad that ex cons can’t buy guns and such?
That’s an issue for another day.
But hey, if you’re all for murderers and rapists getting their hands on a piece right after getting out of prison, then lets hope they all move near you and not near me, seeing as your obviously concerned about gun sales among the disenfranchised :)
buon pomeriggio
The rest of the world doesn't tolerate either Rights or Belief.
I think a lot of blame can go to AWOL fathers, broken families, a disregard of education and personal responsibility. You end up with young men who’ve never had a loving but firm hand on their shoulder keeping them on a good path.
Here's Richard Pryors "thank God for penitentiaries" stand up bit about penitentiaries...(warning very salty language)
There are exceptions and indeed, wrongful prosecutions. But, on the main, the system that we have is the best and most fair in the history of man. It also is completely consistent with our founding views of God-given rights and our democratic principals.
If I took you on a personal tour of the state prison near me, you would leave thinking not one of those inmates didn’t deserve to be there. Most of them have simply insisted in going after four or five “second chances.”
In America there are people who have gone to prison for selling orchids without the proper permits.
The premise of the article is correct. We use incarceration as punishment for a great many of non-violent offenses and at great cost.
The fact is: People go to prison because they are criminals.
Not because they are black, or brown, or any other reason.
Richie Pryor: Prisons
https://youtu.be/Txp8B4ek_kk
Hard to feel sorry for anyone dumb enough to end up in the klink. My issue is the cost. 2 million times $50k per prisoner comes to roughly $100 billion yearly. I say set up a penal colony in Siberia for Russian development. Free labor for lowering taxes and freeing up the guard complex. Offer 40 acres upon release. Plenty of blue collar prisoners to manage the projects.
I think we’ve accepted the fact a large segment of the population is actually living in open air prisons called cities. Every rioter and looter belongs in prison, but “the law” in those towns says they should go free (no-bail release). Same goes for petty thievery, light battery, and mild sexual harassment. Essentially, bad people in cities have been put on a very lenient form of house arrest just by living there.
Same goes for drug dens in rural areas. I’ve talked to cops who say “that whole street out in the middle of nowhere is off limits. They all buy and sell drugs, but as long as they stay there (in their open-air prison), we won’t bother them.”
The reality is the veneer of society is much thinner than most people want to admit.
The real crime is the money used to keep the ultra-violent lifers alive.
No a lot of America’s citizens are just damn right criminals in one way or the other.
We are not called the Land of Opportunity for nothing!
I agree with the sentiment, but it’s so easy to railroad somebody, manufacture or withhold evidence, get witnesses confused or lying, etc. There are so many examples of this it’s sickening and worrying. Upset the wrong DA and watch how quickly the legal system can be used against you. Then there are those instances where judges have been shown getting kickbacks from private prisons for sending more people there (even people where evidence against them wasn’t really that strong).
There’s a reason President Trump has pursued criminal justice system reform. We have a system with flaws, and we should work to improve those flaws. I still believe in the system overall, but we can’t sit back and think that it is or always will be good enough. It’s controlled and operated by government employees. That should be reason enough to worry.
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