Posted on 10/16/2014 8:04:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As best-selling novelist John Grisham prepares to publish his new legal thriller, he argues America's prison system has run out of control.
America is wrongly jailing far too many people for viewing child pornography, the best-selling legal novelist John Grisham has told The Telegraph in a wide-ranging attack on the US judicial system and the country's sky-high prison rates.
Mr Grisham, 59, argued America's judges had "gone crazy" over the past 30 years, locking up far too many people, from white collar criminals like the businesswoman Martha Stewart, to black teenagers on minor drugs charges and - he added - those who had viewed child porn online.
"We have prisons now filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who've never harmed anybody, would never touch a child," he said in an exclusive interview to promote his latest novel Gray Mountain which is published next week....
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Agreed. Too little, too late. He showed his real colors, and can’t walk it back now.
I believe these are the federal numbers.. something around 215,000 if I understand these Federal Bureau of Prisons data. I have not found the very latest numbers for state and local yet.
Federal Bureau of Prisons Tables, August 2014
| Age | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 35 | 0.0% |
| 18-21 | 2,870 | 1.3% |
| 22-25 | 12,956 | 6.0% |
| 26-30 | 28,976 | 13.5% |
| 31-35 | 40,449 | 18.8% |
| 36-40 | 38,633 | 18.0% |
| 41-45 | 31,882 | 14.8% |
| 46-50 | 22,839 | 10.6% |
| 51-55 | 16,220 | 7.6% |
| 56-60 | 9,750 | 4.5% |
| 61-65 | 5,548 | 2.6% |
| 65 | 4,541 | 2.1% |
| Native Country | ||
|---|---|---|
| # of Inmates | % of Inmates | |
| Colombia | 2,023 | 0.9% |
| Cuba | 1,452 | 0.7% |
| Dominican Republic | 2,077 | 1.0% |
| Mexico | 36,236 | 16.9% |
| Other/Unknown | 10,672 | 5.0% |
| United States | 162,239 | 75.6% |
| Ethnicity | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Hispanic | 74,338 | 34.6% |
| Non-Hispanic | 140,361 | 65.4% |
| Gender | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 14,314 | 6.7% |
| Male | 200,385 | 93.3% |
| Race | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Asian | 3,316 | 1.5% |
| Black | 80,091 | 37.3% |
| Native American | 4,041 | 1.9% |
| White | 127,251 | 59.3% |
| Sentence | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | 6,668 | 2.3 % |
| 1-3 years | 23,891 | 11.8% |
| 3-5 years | 27,130 | 13.4% |
| 5-10 years | 51,460 | 25.4% |
| 10-15 years | 40,988 | 20.3% |
| 15-20 years | 22,265 | 11.0% |
| More than 20 years | 24,450 | 12.1% |
| Life | 5,493 | 2.7% |
| Death | 58 | 0.0% |
| Offense | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Banking and Insurance, Counterfeit, Embezzlement | 724 | 0.4% |
| Burglary, Larceny, Property Offenses | 7,913 | 3.9% |
| Continuing Criminal Enterprise | 454 | 0.2% |
| Courts or Corrections | 827 | 0.4% |
| Drug Offenses | 98,964 | 48.8% |
| Extortion, Fraud, Bribery | 12,428 | 6.1% |
| Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping Offenses | 5,775 | 2.9% |
| Immigration | 20,853 | 10.3% |
| Miscellaneous | 1,545 | 0.8% |
| National Security | 81 | 0.0% |
| Robbery | 7,514 | 3.7% |
| Sex Offenses | 13,329 | 6.6% |
| Weapons, Explosives, Arson | 32,203 | 15.9% |
| Security Level | # of Inmates | % of Inmates |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 36,787 | 17.1% |
| Low | 83,753 | 39.0% |
| Medium | 62,586 | 29.2% |
| High | 24,036 | 11.2% |
| Unclassified | 7,537 | 3.5% |
He's going to have to do better than "so many of these guys" before I come close to buying it. Most of the cases I've read about in the press aren't drunk 60-year-olds caught by sting operations, they're people who have thousands of pictures that are clearly not borderline teens, clearly show the abuse of young children, and who tend to be trading or trafficking in same. That's a completely different thing. If someone pays someone for child pornography he's paying that individual to abuse children, or to pay someone else to do so. That isn't guilt-free, and it isn't victimless.
Contestant #3: Who was John Grisham?
People who produce kiddie porn ought to be strung up by their johnson until dead. Of that, I am sure.
But I'm also concerned about how easy it is to plant something on someone's computer for political or other nefarious purposes.
We had an incident in our region where a pervert was "spoofing" somebody else's computer to upload this crap.
The guy who got spoofed was very lucky the cops didn't just arrest him because it was convenient and the evidence all pointed at him. Instead, he used his computer to help them catch the real perp.
So, yes, there really needs to be a clear distinction made. I also think a crippling fine and registration as a sex offender would be a more appropriate punishment for some of the older consumers rather than prison time.
Prisons ought to be reserved for society's most dangerous who need to be removed from the general population. A sick puppy viewer only is probably no more dangerous than a casual drug user. Both definitely need to be monitored but not incarcerated unless other factors indicate they are a real danger.
Agreed. Never say something that makes you look stupid.
I mean we all say things we don’t mean and that’s one thing but other things are best left unsaid.
If Grisham didn’t know about the latter rule, he has no business being a writer.
Exactly
Typical out of touch idiot, I don’t care if he is a lawyer he is wrong those that are in prison are there for their crimes. This is like saying Hitler was not wrong because he also killed gypsies and others besides Jews.
The man’s a writer. His profession involves words, and the use thereof in telling stories. His comment wasn’t some flippant remark during some unexpected question while he was hailing a cab. He stated those comments during an interview.
John, say goodbye to your career. I’ll never read another novel from a child porn enabler.
Through my involvement in helping victims find freedom, I have realized that any man minimizing the impact of child porn or child molestation is a man to watch carefully. Also any man who starts splitting hairs over definitions related to these issues.
Maybe he was “just researching a book” or something.
John Grisham apologizes after troubling statements about child porn
And now we know the truth about Grisham....
He has revealed his deepest secret. A bit Freudian don’t ya think?
What % of those 127,000 whites are Hispanic?
You hit the proverbial nail right on the head.
The table appears to show that about 35% of all US inmates are Hispanic and about 65% are non-Hispanic. If I am reading it correctly.
Some of the black inmates could be Hispanic, but most of the Hispanics are undoubtedly labeled white.
This is typical of the games that the Left plays with crime statistics; Hispanics are counted as black when they are victims, and counted as white when they are perps.
Jail Inmates at Midyear 2013 - Statistical Tables
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics
| Characteristic | 2000 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011a | 2012a | 2013a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totalb | 621,149 | 747,529 | 765,819 | 780,174 | 785,533 | 767,434 | 748,728 | 735,601 | 744,524 | 731,208 |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Male | 550,162 | 652,958 | 666,819 | 679,654 | 685,862 | 673,728 | 656,360 | 642,300 | 645,900 | 628,900 |
| Female | 70,987 | 94,571 | 99,000 | 100,520 | 99,670 | 93,706 | 92,368 | 93,300 | 98,600 | 102,400 |
| Adult | 613,534 | 740,770 | 759,717 | 773,341 | 777,829 | 760,216 | 741,168 | 729,700 | 739,100 | 726,600 |
| Male | 543,120 | 646,807 | 661,164 | 673,346 | 678,657 | 667,039 | 649,284 | 636,900 | 640,900 | 624,700 |
| Female | 70,414 | 93,963 | 98,552 | 99,995 | 99,172 | 93,176 | 91,884 | 92,800 | 98,100 | 101,900 |
| Juvenilec | 7,615 | 6,759 | 6,102 | 6,833 | 7,703 | 7,218 | 7,560 | 5,900 | 5,400 | 4,600 |
| Held as adultd | 6,126 | 5,750 | 4,835 | 5,649 | 6,410 | 5,846 | 5,647 | 4,600 | 4,600 | 3,500 |
| Held as juvenile | 1,489 | 1,009 | 1,268 | 1,184 | 1,294 | 1,373 | 1,912 | 1,400 | 900 | 1,100 |
| Race/Hispanic origine | ||||||||||
| Whitef | 260,500 | 331,000 | 336,500 | 338,200 | 333,300 | 326,400 | 331,600 | 329,400 | 341,100 | 344,900 |
| Black/African Americanf | 256,300 | 290,500 | 295,900 | 301,700 | 308,000 | 300,500 | 283,200 | 276,400 | 274,600 | 261,500 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 94,100 | 111,900 | 119,200 | 125,500 | 128,500 | 124,000 | 118,100 | 113,900 | 112,700 | 107,900 |
| American Indian/Alaska Nativef,g | 5,500 | 7,600 | 8,400 | 8,600 | 9,000 | 9,400 | 9,900 | 9,400 | 9,300 | 10,200 |
| Asian/Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islanderf,g |
4,700 | 5,400 | 5,100 | 5,300 | 5,500 | 5,400 | 5,100 | 5,300 | 5,400 | 5,100 |
| Two or more racesf | ... | 1,000 | 700 | 800 | 1,300 | 1,800 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,500 | 1,600 |
Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. ...Not collected.
a - Data for 2011-2013 are adjusted for nonresponse and rounded to the nearest 100.
b - Midyear count is the number of inmates held on the last weekday in June.
c - Persons age 17 or younger at midyear.
d - Includes juveniles who were tried or awaiting trial as adults.
e - Data adjusted for nonresponse and rounded to the nearest 100. See Methodology.
f - Excludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin.
g - Previous reports combined American Indians and Alaska Natives and Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders into an Other race category.
Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Survey of Jails, 2000 and midyear 2006–2013, and the 2005 Census of Jail Inmates.
I have not yet double checked these figures but I merely copied the table image text and numbers then added the HTML. They should be correct but I'll double check before I keep this in my files.
Exactly!
I cannot say. But you can go by the city and country jail numbers in my reply immediately above this one to get a good idea.
Exactly. He said what he really meant, in the interview. Sicko.
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