- Good to eat (an essential Food Pyramid category)
- Not good to throw at buses
- If thrown at buses, the thrower shouldn't be arrested by police.
Posted on 05/14/2007 10:11:31 AM PDT by Stoat
You need to pay more attention. "Zero Tolerance" is a phrase coined and constantly promoted by the left. Conservatives may have 'zero-tolerance' for cowardly traitors like Harry Reid and John Murtha, but the liberals - at least the far left ones - want to empty the prisons of violent minority criminals (it's racist doncha know?) in order to make room for all those who disagree with their liberal idiocy - conservatives, neocons, libertarians, people who voted for Bush etc. or anyone else who values freedom and liberty.
Personally, I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance laws.
How did England get to this point? Probably the way that we ended up with zero tolerance policies in our schools, etc., so that a kid who brings a water pistol to school is expelled for bringing a weapon on school grounds.
It starts with one or both of two different things. In one case, someone makes a judgement, perhaps letting kids bring their guns to school locked up in their cars during deer hunting season. In the other, someone abuses their judgement or authority, and thus abuses someone under their authority. In both cases, a situation ensues where someone gets injured or killed.
At that point, there is a push to say “This is awful, this should never happen again, we will take steps to make sure it never happens again”. The presumption is that bad things can always be prevented. Another presumption is that you can cure bad things without causing other bad things to happen. Then there’s the presumption that you can create a process that is run by human agency that is foolproof, that higher authority can anticipate every possible outcome, and that success can be obtained by reserving judgement to the highest authority and that a successful process can be designed by taking away judgement and initiative from on-site management.
Couple that with an electorate that will make snap judgements on sound bites regarding isolated incidents and you end up with this kind of thing.
“Sadly I would have to say it is the zero-tolerance conservative whitey-tighty crowd that is pushing this.”
Road apples.
Conservatives want real crime punished—things like drug pushing, rape, murder, and being a leftist—while at the same time returning authority to parents and teachers to discipline juvenile acting out appropriately.
“Sadly I would have to say it is the zero-tolerance conservative whitey-tighty crowd that is pushing this.”
Road apples.
Conservatives want real crime punished—things like drug pushing, rape, murder, and being a leftist—while at the same time returning authority to parents and teachers to discipline juvenile acting out appropriately.
Excellent, essential point and I stand corrected.
Another couple of articles / threads which may be of interest:
Great Britain Ministers beg judges - don't jail any more criminals! (prisons are full)
Great Britain White men may wait three years to get into the Metropolitan Police
And they arrest innocent citizens who defend their life and property.
This is what you get when liberals take over. It’s also crazy. See my user name...
LMAO! :-)
mmmmm... cream buns. That sounds good.
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with." ~Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Is there an echo in here???? The liberals are only using the “get tough on crime” conservative movement started in the 70’s to promote their own agenda. But make no mistake, it’s the conservative “get tough on crime” crowd that has built and championed the justice system that we currently have. Build more prisons and you have to fill them up with people. The only thing you are wrangling about is what constitutes a “crime”. Conservative built the system, liberals are just hijacking it.
My first reaction upon reading this post is, “So why should the U.K. be any different? Why should they catch a break?” It’s slowly becoming a way of life around the world. When you marginalize law-abiding citizens with garbage arrests and zero judicial process, you get a nation of criminals. Pretty soon, you’ll be weird if you DON’T have a record.”
What?!. Scotlands population is just over 5 million, how did these 5 million Scots outvote 50 million Englishmen?
Regards
“But make no mistake, it’s the conservative “get tough on crime” crowd that has built and championed the justice system that we currently have. Build more prisons and you have to fill them up with people.”
Ah, I see the problem. You believe things that are simply not true.
The justice system we have is a hodge-podge of good measures by conservatives, mixed with liberal lunacy. It is nonsense to blame conservatives for the idiocy of the left.
Further, it is nonsensical to think that conservatives would want to fill prisons up just because they exist. Beyond that, US prisons have been overcrowded since at least the sixties. There has never in my lifetime been a surplus of unused prison space.
Start with actual facts—you know, the truth—and you’ll have a better chance to end up at a correct conclusion.
Are you nicer to people in real life than you are on FR?
The effect of these policies is that the crime rate today is about the same as it was in the early '70s. Yet during this same period the incarceration rate has increased by more than 400 percent, while annual expenditures on the criminal justice system went up by 1,500 percent (approaching $200 billion).
The incarceration rate is now more than 700 per 100,000 population, higher than any other country in the world.
The rising incarceration rate has done considerable damage to the black population, as blacks are about eight times more likely than whites to be locked up. The incarceration rate for women (with minorities leading the way) has increased the most, going up by more than 700 percent over the past 25 years.
While many researchers have blamed the drug war for this sorry state of affairs, there is another reason for the growth in imprisonment rates, which is less obvious. I am referring to what has been called the crime control industry. In recent years controlling crime has become a big business, an "industry" like other industries such as manufacturing and retail trade. Literally thousands of companies are seeking profits in this booming industry. The criminal justice system alone provides a steady supply of career possibilities for police officers, prison guards, probation officers and many more. Most of these jobs offer not only good starting pay, but excellent benefits and a promise of future wage increases and job security. The police, the courts and the prison system have become huge, self-serving and self-perpetuating bureaucracies with a vested interest in keeping crime at a certain level. They need victims, they need criminals, they need customers, even if they have to invent them.
Prison construction is a booming business too. An ad by an investment group states: "While arrests and convictions are steadily on the rise, profits are to be made -- profits from crime. Get in on the ground floor of this booming industry now!"
In a sense, private industry and the criminal justice system cannot afford to put a large dent in the crime problem, because it would have such a negative impact on the industry. Two words sum it up: Politics and economics. Politics, in the sense that elected officials want to be re-elected, and sounding "tough on crime" gets votes; economics in the sense of not only the money to be made by businesses but the number of jobs created.
Really? I didn't know that the United Kingdom had a "conservative whitey-tighty crowd" and I'm sure they don't have one "card carrying member of the RNC". Are you sure you aren't French?
1980 1,842,100
1981 2,008,300
1982 2,194,400
1983 2,476,800
1984 2,690,700
1985 3,013,100
1986 3,241,100
1987 3,461,400
1988 3,715,800
1989 4,057,800
1990 4,350,300
1991 4,537,900
1992 4,765,400
1993 4,948,300
1994 5,148,000
1995 5,342,900
1996 5,490,700
1997 5,734,900
1998 6,134,200
1999 6,340,800
2000 6,445,100
2001 6,581,700
2002 6,758,800
2003 6,924,500
2004 6,995,200
2005 7,056,000
Well, that of course is Government's job. We can't very well be having decent, law-abiding people standing up for themselves, can we? That would set a terrible precedent of self-sufficiency and self-determination which The Government cannot allow. Soon, people will be thinking that they can think for themselves and take care of themselves, and don't need such a large, intrusive Government....we can't be having that now, can we?
(Hopefully I don't need to add a 'sarcasm' tag)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.