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Paying the Price: Nebraska gun law helped spark nation-leading prison growth
Omaha World Herald ^ | January 9, 2022 | Henry Cordes

Posted on 01/09/2022 7:13:50 AM PST by Mean Daddy

Nebraska's prison inmate population is growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, way out of sync with nearly every other state.

And the smoking gun behind much of that growth — and the millions of dollars that those extra inmates are costing Nebraska taxpayers — is a 2009 state law that created new gun crimes and toughened penalties. The law also helped steer hundreds of offenders from federal prisons into the state system, adding to the tab for Nebraska taxpayers.

As Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Legislature debate whether a new $230 million prison is needed to deal with the state's chronically overcrowded and understaffed corrections system, The World-Herald has uncovered a significant untold story behind the prison crisis.

No state grew its prison population more in the last decade than Nebraska. Its inmate count increased 16% between 2010 and 2020 even as such numbers nationally fell by nearly a fourth, according to a World-Herald analysis of U.S. Justice Department data. In fact, Nebraska and Idaho are the only states whose prisoner numbers didn't decline over the decade.

So at a time when many states across the country are closing prisons, Nebraska is staring at the possibility of building a pricey new one to deal with what has recently become the nation's most overcrowded prison system.

(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Iowa; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: banglist
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I would argue that other states are allowing criminals to run free.
1 posted on 01/09/2022 7:13:50 AM PST by Mean Daddy
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To: Mean Daddy

“Its inmate count increased 16% between 2010 and 2020 even as such numbers nationally fell by nearly a fourth”

Be interesting to see the demographic change for those ten years.


2 posted on 01/09/2022 7:17:27 AM PST by dljordan (Slouching towards Woketopia)
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To: Mean Daddy

Funny how you don’t see Nebraska in the top states with victims of “gun crimes”.

Maybe one has something to do with the other?

L


3 posted on 01/09/2022 7:17:47 AM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: dljordan

Si’


4 posted on 01/09/2022 7:19:32 AM PST by 45semi (A police state is always preceded by a nanny state...)
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To: Mean Daddy
Glanced over the article at the link.

It is obvious that the new laws are a success at getting dangerous criminals off the streets and behind bars.

For some reason, the Omaha Herald is unhappy about that.

5 posted on 01/09/2022 7:20:39 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: Mean Daddy

Hopefully there aren’t a lot of people charged and convicted on these phony assault weapon laws.


6 posted on 01/09/2022 7:21:16 AM PST by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.p)
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To: 45semi

Incarceration-one of my favorite subjects. Hundreds of thousands of $$ to build each cell and $30-50k to house them. I have solution(s) stated here before. Wanna hear them again? They’re cheap(er).


7 posted on 01/09/2022 7:22:56 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Mean Daddy
The kinds of gang-related shootings that sparked the gun crackdown in 2009 continue — including the death last month of a 14-year-old Omaha girl. Overall, however, trends for homicides and shootings in Omaha have been down in recent years.

You don't say?

Kinda looks like locking up violent criminals is working in Nebraska while other states that are giving criminals a slap on the wrist are seeing an increase in violent crime.

8 posted on 01/09/2022 7:23:37 AM PST by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024)
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Mean Daddy

They could always go one step further and deport any inmate who cannot provide proof of citizenship. After all, why does Nebraska need to feed house and clothe people who should even be in Nebraska?


10 posted on 01/09/2022 7:27:21 AM PST by Bernard (If a school can offer varsity sports, it should also offer varsity (honors) academics.)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: Lurker

“Funny how you don’t see Nebraska in the top states with victims of “gun crimes”.

Maybe one has something to do with the other?”

And I care much more about that then how many thugs are locked up.

I always find it amusing when people complain of overcrowded prison and their solution is to let the criminals free. There’s a better way to relieve the crowded conditions - build more prisons!


12 posted on 01/09/2022 7:29:05 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
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To: Mean Daddy

NYC is reducing crime statistics by charging felony crimes as misdemeanors and pushing deferral programs. Will this make NYC residents safer?


13 posted on 01/09/2022 7:30:16 AM PST by throwthebumsout
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Might Bubba Wallace’s garage pull play a part in your thinking?


14 posted on 01/09/2022 7:31:07 AM PST by alstewartfan ("She looks like she's 19 years old, sitting there like a lady with her legs crossed." Creepy Joe)
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To: aquila48

Make them walk along abandoned railroad tracks. Give them tents, backpacks and sleeping bags. There are thousands of miles of them. At one with nature.


15 posted on 01/09/2022 7:31:25 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Lurker

The kind of reporting done in a society completely lacking in its capacity for critical thought.

Someone defined Hell as a place devoid of reason.


16 posted on 01/09/2022 7:32:09 AM PST by skeeter
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To: Mean Daddy

Tent cities, pink underwear, bologna sandwiches and non stop loop on the speakers of Hillary and Camel Uh cackling


17 posted on 01/09/2022 7:38:00 AM PST by digger48
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To: Mean Daddy

Guns are the worst thing in the world unless certain people get locked up for them.


18 posted on 01/09/2022 7:39:56 AM PST by pas
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To: dljordan

Nebraska has the death penalty, but, in a deliberate Catch-22, Nebraska legislative kakistocrats have only legalized execution by lethal injection (for which no drug has been legalized). Nebraska Republican Governor Ricketts needs to hold the Nebraska legislators’ political feet to the fire to legalize other methods of execution to make more room in the crowded death row.


19 posted on 01/09/2022 7:41:23 AM PST by Carl Vehse (A proud member of the LGBFJB community)
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To: BenLurkin

“It is obvious that the new laws are a success at getting dangerous criminals off the streets and behind bars.

“For some reason, the Omaha Herald is unhappy about that.”

Bingo!

This is simply DemocRat strategy for overthrowing the Constitution through terror. Another term for violent felons released into the streets is persons doing their masters’ work.


20 posted on 01/09/2022 7:43:14 AM PST by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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