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Millions in the Slammer: We Must Reverse America's Zeal to Incarcerate

By Nomi Prins, The Women's International Perspective. Posted December 30, 2007.


The U.S. has the most prisoners and the highest jailing rate of any country -- the insanity must stop.

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The movie Atonement is a heart-breaking love-story, a historical WWII saga. Without giving away the ending, which must be seen to be adequately felt, it tells the tale of two lovers' lives irrevocably changed by false testimony against one of them -- for a crime he did not commit. Thus, it's also a condemnation of unreliable witnesses, the willingness of people to believe the worst, particularly of those in a lower economic-class, and the havoc that a false accusation and conviction can wreak upon human life. It's a film and message that every judge, jury member, and prosecutor should see and consider before convicting or sentencing anyone accused of a crime.

On December 10th, the United States Supreme Court voted 7-2 to recognize a gross injustice with respect to sentencing guidelines which disproportionately penalize those convicted of crack versus cocaine related crimes. The disparity gives equal punishment to a person caught with 5 grams of crack (a poor person's cocaine) and one caught with 500 grams of coke (a drug dealer's amount). In their validation of a federal district judge's below-guideline sentence for a crack case, the Supreme Court reconfirmed the 2005 Booker ruling that federal judges could have more discretion in levying below-guideline sentences. They did not rule on the validity of the guidelines themselves.

This decision should be viewed as the tip of an iceberg. American prisons teem with non-violent prisoners. Our juries are caught between wanting to rush home for the evening and wanting to appear law-abiding. Members are too quick to bow to the loudest voice amongst them, and not necessarily in The Twelve Angry Men direction. Meanwhile, false convictions, due to witness error, prosecutorial misconduct, inferior defense lawyers or coerced "snitching," continue to destroy multiple generations of lives. They throw the idea of "equal protection under the law" under the same bus as our Declaration of Independence mantra of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

We've simply got to reverse this zeal to incarcerate. The United States has more inmates and a higher incarceration rate than any other nation: more than Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Iran, India, Australia, Brazil and Canada combined. Nearly 1 in every 136 US residents is in jail or prison. That's 2.2 million people, an amount that quadrupled from 1980 to 2005. (There were only 340,000 people incarcerated in 1972.) Adding in figures for those on probation or parole, the number reaches 7.1 million.

Over the next five years, the American prison population is projected to increase three times more quickly than our resident population. The Federal Prison system is growing at 4% per year with 55% of federal prisoners serving time for drug offenses, and only 11% for violent crimes. Women are more likely than men (29% to 19%) to serve drug sentences, dismantling thousands of families. One-third of prisoners are first time, non-violent offenders. Three-quarters are non-violent offenders with no history of violence. More than 200,000 are factually innocent. Whether our citizens are wrongly incarcerated or exaggeratedly so, our prison figures are shameful.


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Nomi Prins is a senior fellow at the public policy center Demos and author of Other People's Money and Jacked: How "Conservatives" are Picking your Pocket (Whether you voted for them or not).

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"I did something or other"
Posted by: GPFrank on Dec 30, 2007 7:54 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Most everybody has done some bad thing,or at least somebody else thinks its bad whether it is skinning a parking meter, running a stoplight,lighting a joint. But thought and fantasy roam in greater fields, including murder. But I believe too often it happens, from the method and duration of interrogation, that a suspect will think he or she believes is deserving some sort of punishment, though he or she did not commit the crime in question even if he or she keeps the actual guilt secret. A lot of this is due I believe to our heritage of Calvinist thinking which makes bad thoughts a crime. Also I believe it ties in with the idea of a necessary underclass into which many of the underclass buy.

On the other hand the so-called drug war ties right in with the prison industry, doesn't it?

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Good Article, but Don't Hold Your Breath
Posted by: redroadtraveler on Dec 30, 2007 7:54 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As a former "guest" of Big Brother, I know first-hand the truth of this article. My prosecutor "won" his case by committing perjury and obstruction of justice. When I confronted him with these facts, he simply sneered in my face and said "WE don't have to FOLLOW the law, we ARE the law!"

The prison industry has become big business, with a lot of guards livelihoods dependent on it, and the prisoners get to be the free or extremely low paid slave labor for the American System. The courts are loath to reverse any decision made by another court. They have a vested interest in "proving" that the system is correct and works properly. The inmate have it correct, however, when they call it the "Just Us" department, and I believe they also have it correct when they say about the functioning of our current law enforcement "..You just da biggest gang in town, musclein' yo' way aroun'."

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It's Modernized Slavery, I"m Yelling
Posted by: ricoism on Dec 30, 2007 8:43 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This should be of no surprise to anyone.
The Prison Industrial Complex is the modernized mechanism of Diplomatic and Sanctioned Slavery. Where else it is okay to lock individuals up and deprive them of their freedom even if years later, they are found to have not committed what they have been imprisoned for. Where else can cheap and forced labor be condoned, where private businesses have been reaping the fruits of prisoners labor for years, where else is unionizing out of the question, where else is anyone penalized over and over again if they refuse to work. This mechanism (PIC) works intricately, it breaks the family unit so individuals subject themselves to these deplorable and inhumane exploitative practices inorder to meet the cost of inflation just to maintain appropriate hygienic standards, it forces individuals to submit through it's constant punitive measures, it enhances anger and a sense of lost hope that promotes animalistic traits which many gear towards the next prisoner, while others at the system if not the people condoning such system to continue as is. What will it take for things to change, i personally asked myself time after time during my imprisonment, should i take it out on everybody in society if ever released? Is this what this nation is hoping for, for one of it's created and uncontrollable monster's to finally be released and cause havoc upon society, and then yell that this is why jails, and prisons are required? do we really have to continue taking this chance to see if someone if not afew start acting acting out on the anger and frustration endured imprisoned? I bring to your attention the fact, that if you strip the wall off one side of a jail or prison and put it next to pictures of old slave ships, you'll notice the similarities, then take into account the constant transfers. History has a tendency of repeating itself. I ask what will it take, there's too many already being subjected to modernized slavery.....

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Ron Paul is for Decriminalization of Drugs
Posted by: BillDouglas on Dec 30, 2007 10:55 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
About 50% of US prisoners are there for drug related charges.

The US imprisons more of its people than any nation on earth. Any nation.

It costs TWICE as much to send a young person to prison as it would to send them to Harvard.

SO WHY DO WE DO IT?

Profits. Some corporations now own prison systems. The more they imprison, the more money they make. The project future profits by illiteracy in schools. The more illiterate children are, the more profits prison corporations will make.

Even the public prisons employ slave labor to work for corporations for pennies an hour.

Ron Paul calls for decriminalization of drug use in America, which would empty our prisons and jails by half.

How much money would that save? How many attacks from the right and the left will come down on Ron Paul, in order to save such obscene, albeit immoral profits of the penal system?

Ron Paul is the ONLY revolutionary running in 2008. I'm a lifelong Democrat (and Green one election) of 25 years of activism.

I'm supporting Ron Paul, the only man that will end the CIA militarist global empire and make America no longer the largest prison plantation in the world.

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Another Attica...
Posted by: Nigelthebriton on Dec 31, 2007 12:41 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...is coming.

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numbers
Posted by: AsteroidMiner on Dec 31, 2007 1:22 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
4% growth means the doubling time for the number incarcerated
is 17.5 years. 70/4=17.5
In 17.5 years, 4.4 million incarcerated
In 35 years, 8.8 million incarcerated
In 52.5 years, 17.6 million incarcerated
In 70 years, 35.2 million incarcerated
In 87.5 years, 70.2 million incarcerated
In 103.2 years, 140.4 million incarcerated
In 122.5 years, 280.8 million incarcerated
In 140 years, everybody in the country is incarcerated.

200,000/2.2 million = 2/22=1/11=9% innocent. Hardly beyond a
reasonable doubt.

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» RE: numbers Posted by: richholland
Private Prisons
Posted by: Tom Degan on Dec 31, 2007 4:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As if this weren't bad enough, they now are trying to create a "prison industry". That's right. Privatize them! Think about what this would mean:

We would have a new mega-corporation whose sole existence would depend on keeping those prisons packed to the rafters. If the prison populations start to go down to to some nasty little turn of affairs such as....oh....I don't know....a social utopia suddenly transpiring - these new prison corporations would go out of business. What to do? Make damned sure that the politicians are bought off by making sure they cast laws that ensure that those prisons remained filled to the rafters.

Five years for a quarter ounce of marijuana.

It really is a terrible idea.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
BUSH MOB FOLLIES 2007

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» RE: Private Prisons Posted by: InsertNameHere
» RE: Private Prisons Posted by: A. Servant
Racism and religiosity rule
Posted by: Jim Swanson on Dec 31, 2007 6:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Our rapidly growing prison system is the highest population of inmates in the World. Dwarfing even China's.
Why? While there are many forces, including political ones, that drive this need to incarcerate, Racism and Religiosity are the leading causes.
Ever since the Civil Rights Movement and Laws starting in the 1950s Americans have looked for ways to keep the American Black Man, and increasingly Woman, out of view. Wars on "crime and drugs" provided the perfect means of effecting this apartheid. The chance that a Black Male will spend some time in prison is 1 in 3 and it will almost always be a for a "crime" that is non-violent and would not usually be prosecuted if he were White.
In addition, the competing religious forces in this country have to each be more restrictive and punitive in order to survive. Thus, we have criminalized recreational drug use, but almost always for the people of color. Suburban White schools view drugs as a medical problem at most while the Inner City views them as a criminal problem resulting in prosecutions and incarcerations.
The biological sciences have demonstrated that Black and White are social constructs. There is more genetic diversity amongst Blacks than there is between so-called Blacks and Whites. Cognitive neuroscience demonstrates that mental states are embodied and not "spiritual" and can be replicated with the use of mind altering drugs, repetitive acts, concentration, et al and have nothing to do with any spiritual essence.
Both of these, Racism and Religiosity, drive the resistance to evolution and all of the sciences. A scientifically illiterate population is more susceptible to manipulation and control.
The creeping fascism here in the US is thus fueled by Racism and Religiosity and we must fight back or all of us will lose and American Democracy WILL disappear. Our mantra must be: REALITY RULES AND WE ARE AS ONE.

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» RE: Racism and religiosity rule Posted by: seenaymah
» RE: acism and religiosity rule Posted by: Jim Swanson
Our Prison System is very expensive. It is cheaper to educate and train people than incarcerate them
Posted by: yellow on Dec 31, 2007 8:14 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
According to The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog, there are 750/100000 people in the US prison system not including those on Parole. The world average incarceration rate is currently 166/100,000. This is quite a disparity.

The costs in the US prison system can range between $20,000 to $40,000 annually per prisoner. The entire US prison system costs over $100 billion a year. Most of the growth of cost, prison building and incarceration rate has been over the past 25 years or so and we must reverse this trend.

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Brown, White, Yellow, Red....non violent offenders....
Posted by: picket on Dec 31, 2007 8:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the Police State of America, every warm body is fair game for the system. What are the chances that the occupant in the traffic stop has some type of arrest warrant? That chance is getting higher every day as government is looking for more ways to have $$$$$$$$ FINES support the high cost of the POLICE STATE.

Unpaid traffic tickets result in suspended driving licenses often without the driver even being aware. As the cost to middle class rises due to inability to pay for high costs such as added on bail, towing, loss of work, probation which often interferes severely with employment and work hours...INCARCERATION is the METHOD for PUNISHMENT... and then when the citizen is OUT he/she owes more $$$$ in fines and more arrest warrants are issued.

Freedom????? Watch out for overdue library books and videos...pay those bills promptly, because you are a criminal NOW.

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Tobacco Settlement $ Diveted from Health and Education to Jail..!
Posted by: TJ-stars4peace on Dec 31, 2007 8:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One of the saddest aspects to this, is the little covered fact that much of the money from the Tobacco Settlement sent to states and counties such as here in Ulster County New York (where Hillary Clinton refused to lift a finger or even reply to repeated requests to gt involved or voice her moral outrage) which were Earmarked for Health and education were diverted through Legislative Embezzlement by the County Republican run legislature at the time and used to turn what should have been a $36 million dollar windfall into a $150 plus debacle and debt with the costs going over 100% over budget...

So we see how the Prison Industry corrupted state and county officials and stole from the sick and the innocent children and again Hillary Clinton did Jack shit about it..!

I wrote her of this repeatedly as one of her constituents and got nada..this also then triggered the ill timed disastrous Re-evaluations of property taxes in this county which had been the Number 1 property increase region after 9/11..due to the effect of the fear or another Terror attack on NYC nearby and now destroying families and cost people their homes they can't even sell all to pay for the accursed Jail and off set the bankruptcy of this county..due to the Legislative embezzlement of the Tobacco settlement for their stupid jail and a 34,000 square foot county sheriffs office with office larger than the Oval Office and marble floors..etc..

That's why they call it the "Criminal" Justice System..!


Money stolen from the Tobacco settlement for Health and Education diverted to County Jails nation wide..a true disgrace..!

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Changing the Philosophy of Incarceration
Posted by: sofla100 on Dec 31, 2007 8:27 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You ever see the news media reports about "how the family wants closure if so and so could finally be executed, ...?" What a screwed up and messed up attitude America has on crime and criminals. First of all, if my spouse or child were ever murdered, of course the offender should be caught and go to jail, but this idea that "when they fry" I would or could feel better is absurd.

America needs to change it's entire attitude when it comes to the prison industry. First of all, the notion of "punishment" seems to be a bedrock of the American philosophy. Whatever happened to rehabilitation and helping people? But, before we even get to that, let's take a look at the current system. At least 75% of those in jail, and probably more, should not even be there to begin with. The ridiculous drug laws are the problem. Beyond this, there are the violent offenders. Now, society does have the right to protect itself from those who are genuinely violent, such as murderers and child sex offenders. But, even with these individuals, they should certainly be treated humanely (not as animals as in the current system) and plans worked out for eventual rehabilitation and integration of them back into society. If that is not possible in some cases, say repeat violent offenders or repeat sex offenders, then plans should be implemented where they could at least live in a society where they could still have some freedoms (such as privacy) in a separate type of society, but could not have access to the outside population. But, all of what I am proposing here requires a radical change from how America deals with prisons and prisoners at the current time.

America has much to gain by revising it's prison system and industry. If many in jail were never placed there to begin with, and for those who are, if the vast majority eventually became members of society again, then we would all benefit. In addition, enormous amounts of tax money would be saved and crime would plummet (since prisons now just mostly make better criminals).

We would also be a better and more just society. And, we would recognize violent crime as due to social/biologicial and sociological/psychological causes instead of the current notion that some people are "evil." This would be a big improvement.

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Slowing the Intake
Posted by: PaulK on Dec 31, 2007 9:02 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In this country, poor people rob convenience stores to feed their families. Some kids try McJobs where the supervisor gives them only one or two shifts a week at minimum wage, and other kids run drugs out to waiting cars like the boss tells them to.

Our society needs a guarantee that everyone gets a fair shot, not a bogus shot, at getting out of poverty.

We need schools that teach survival skills and trades. Right now some high schools have ridiculous dropout rates because they don't teach useful things. The teachers just beat up on students, or the bullies do, or the gangs do. Four years of solid detention.

We need to stop guaranteeing that if your skin color is black or maybe tan and you are male, and you're a teenager and you don't have a diploma, that you can't get a good job ever.

For that matter, we need to stop guaranteeing that if your child gets cancer, you're bankrupt forever and ever.

For millions of people locked out of the job market, we need re-entry points into the job market. For that matter, we need solid re-entry points into the own your own small business market.

One wing of our prisons should be reserved for the criminally insane. Another wing should be reserved for rich people who actually will benefit from strong correction. The addicts only need a steady supply of their drug for the worst of them, plus help in kicking the habit for the better shots.

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» RE: Slowing the Intake Posted by: Lauren
» RE: Slowing the Intake Posted by: Jim Swanson
» ONE critical area? Posted by: PaulK
something like COMPULSORY education and SKILLS training ....
Posted by: veggiegrrrl on Dec 31, 2007 10:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
something like COMPULSORY education and SKILLS training comes to mind...something like NOBODY can DROP OUT of school until they are reasonably literate with a highly marketable skill.

how utterly fascist-sounding.

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Singapore has the solution.
Posted by: gwbbbb on Dec 31, 2007 10:18 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
“Getting tough on crime” does not work. “Rehabilitation” does not work. What works is Singapore’s method of good old fashion ass caning for misdemeanor offenses and execution for felonies. Even if we only executed the murderers, rapist and other violate criminal, there would be a significant less scumbag population to warehouse until they can offend again.

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» RE: Singapore has the solution. Posted by: graffen48
Putting you in jail means you lose citizens' rights
Posted by: harpy on Dec 31, 2007 11:21 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
like the right to vote especially. Then you have no say in who is making these Orwellian laws and the Repubs know that those who are more likely to vote Democratic are the ones who are usually sent to jail.

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It's time to address the root cause of white fear
Posted by: nfamous on Dec 31, 2007 12:12 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Whites always want to address the symptoms of white supremacy but never the white supremacy itself. The problem is that white men fear and hate black men, largely because we were the first people on the planet and because of black male sexuality ie Black males have the ability to eliminate white people genetically simply by reproducing through black-white interracial sex. Until those core issues are addressed with the white male population this savage behavior will continue. It's not enough to plug a leak in the dike of racism because it invariably springs a new leak somewhere else and often worse than before. Before you know it the whole dam is collapsing on you. That is where America is right now. The masses of white people are being controlled by the white elite through fear by using racism.

It's why blacks and Latinos are disproportionately incarcerated and executed. It's why Lou Dobbs can't shut up about illegal immigration although he has no problem with the illegal and inhuman immigration of Europeans here that committed two overlapping genocides. It's the same fear that makes all Americans think all Arabs are terrorists or that all Indians got their jobs from outsourcing or H1B visas and low-balled salaries. White people are just scared to death of everyone not like them. I believe it is a psychologically evolutionary issue and needs to be addressed as such if we are to ever rid ourselves of this cancer that has engulfed the world. There are 600 million white people on the planet and 6 billion nonwhites. For whites to be in ruthless control of everything is nothing short of global apartheid.

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Be careful what you vote for!!!
Posted by: graffen48 on Dec 31, 2007 1:36 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When California cleverly threw in an attachment to one of their propositions, people who werent paying attention voted it into law. This is when "probable cause" turned into "reasonable suspicion". A seemingly harmless change in language which actually made a huge difference in peoples rights in regards to unreasonable searches and seizures. Oh, and don't forget the 3 strikes law!! Be careful what you vote for people!!

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there was a short lived program on court tv...
Posted by: undrgrndgirl on Dec 31, 2007 4:05 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that showed real people dealing with the u. s. "legal" system...i don't remember the name of the program, nor to i fully remember all the details of the one i watched...however what i do recall was a women (african-american, with children, i think) accused of selling drugs. when the cops "busted" her (and took her kids away) she did not have any drugs and denied her involvement. the program did a fair job of showing she in actuality was not selling drugs and never had...however, the (in)-justice system charged her anyway, though they had no hard evidence, then her court appointed lawyer told her to take the plea bargain rather than "risk" a jury trial...she continued to adamantly insist she was innocent...asking why she should take a plea bargain when she hadn't done anything wrong and, as a citizen, had a right to a jury trial...ultimately she was railroaded by the system and has an undeserved conviction on her record...i was absolutely shocked that in this day and age, the "justice system" could/would actually do this to a person!!

VOTE KUCINICH the sane alternative to Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton.

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Grist for the Corporate Fascist Mill
Posted by: macdon1 on Dec 31, 2007 5:06 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Preoccupation with crime and punishment is one of the characteristics of a fascist state. A jailable offense can be manufactured out of almost anything if the "system" decides they want to incarcerate you. What better way to control people and provide barely paid captive labor for the big corporations? Here in California, the#1 state for incarceration, there is an old saying "come on vacation,leave on probation." And crime seems to be worse than it has ever been...

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A Few DUI's and Coke Can Put You in Jail, So How Did GW Bush Get Off?
Posted by: sofla100 on Dec 31, 2007 6:34 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Well, as for rehabilitation, how about being born again, saved, and rehabed then into being the President of the USA? Hey, isn't this the guy with at least one known DUI nobody talks about now? Isn't he also the guy with a known background of snorting the powderey? Well, ok, I guess none of this counts, if your daddy and connections can take care of things. As for anybody else doing this, they'd be in jail at least a year or two. That's American justice for you.

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this war
Posted by: formaryjane on Dec 31, 2007 8:11 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
at the very risk of sounding redundant, I'm just going to state that this is just flat insane, all through school I was taught that america was supposed to be free and a better place to live for it, but when did I miss the part where that came to fruition?
do we want to live in a country that would go to war on its own people to turn a quick buck? its one thing to throw away murderers and rapist, snipers, child molesters and the such, but then we turn around and throw the rest of them in just cause the court system can issue ridiculous fines and even more ridiculous sentences on the floor for something as trivial as smoking weed to bring fear to the public? I mean I may not be getting all of the facts here but somethings definitely wrong with this. An american CIA plane goes down in mexico carrying something like 32 kilos of cocaine into america and surprisingly enough they refuse to answer any questions about it? I mean this is just an example of hypocrasy as opposed to the topic at hand but I challenge the readers here to ask themselves "can we trust a government who would sell us something and then turn around and arrest us for it?" I'm not condoning cocaine or anything just raising a point.
this may just be this writers oppinion, but I think its time for us as americans to let the government know that its still a democracy. stand up for you rights

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» RE: this war Posted by: Lauren
» Still a Democracy? Posted by: Cathyc
the media feeds the fear--"Cops" on Fox a real offender
Posted by: zooeyhall on Dec 31, 2007 9:17 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The media, especially tv, really feeds the fear in this country. Just look at your local evening news: "if it bleeds, it leads".

And the large number of "crime" dramas on prime time tv.

However, one of the worst is "Cops" on Fox network. If you ever watched that show, almost everyone that is arrested is minority or from the lower social/economic strata. You never see them busting down the penthouse door of an insider trader stock broker. Or dramatically chasing and tackling a CEO corporate polluter.

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And America wants to export democracy?
Posted by: wisegalah on Dec 31, 2007 11:47 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What a sick society.
I have been ridiculed because I come from Australia, a country which was founded as a penal colony.
It seems that America for all of its posturing about individual rights and about its foundation by 'upright christian people' is a societal sewer.
The punitive society is however the logical end of the orthodox religious position. A judgemental, punishing system blind to the rights of anyone who offends against my code of behaviour no matter how deranged.
The religious right which inspires such self defeating behaviour is the soul-mate of the Taliban and al Queda. Same stupidity, same blindness, same cruelty and the same self congratulatory sanctimony.

As someone else has said, about America and Australia, 'You got the pilgrim fathers, thank god that we got the convicts'.

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VICTUMLESS CRIMES GO FREE!
Posted by: williameon on Jan 1, 2008 4:40 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Since the seventies the Prison population has doubled because of,
Crazy drug laws and victim less crimes.
You could empty halve of all prisoners out safely by releasing parole violators and small time Drug users.
It is a medical problem.
End the recidivism of parole violators.
It is impossible to hold a job and lead a normal life if you have to see someone once a week for three years.
Also sentences are too long.
They could be safely shortened for older convicts.
The cost is tremendous and it is a broken system.
Rehabilitation does work if you do it correctly.
Violent criminals are the only people who belong in these prisons.
O.K. Some major white collar criminals too,
Like most of the Cor'pirate' crooks ruining our Government.
Lawyers perpetuate a broken system for their own benefit. More fees!
When one fraternity of mercenaries namely lawyers ruins a system nothing ever gets fixed and the cost balloons exorbitantly.
Millions of extra lawyers!
They are problem perpetuators instead of problem solvers.
They blow anything out of proportion.
They are busy lining their own pockets.
Shyster lawyers become shyster judges!
Just look at the sublime Court!
Empty the Bastille!!
Set the souls free!

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HAVE COMPASSION FOR MOTHERS LIKE EVE?
Posted by: EveSteve on Jan 1, 2008 5:52 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why shouldn’t you support mothers in America like Eve? Ask almost anyone around the globe and you will find that America is one of the first to give others nations’ people a second chance but the last to give the same to its own people. Some of our most benevolent moments have been the awarding of asylum to people of other nations with little or no regards for the crimes that they have committed against their own country. Our extended open hand gifts have been accepted by people around the world long before and long after thousands of World War II ex-German fleeing soldiers were allowed asylum in America. Our country supports organizations of all sizes and kinds, private and public, pagan and religious that collects American dollars to fill the needs of people in other nations while millions of citizens like Eve and her children here go without.

Eve a felon convicted of a crime early in her life served her probation and paid restitution but still pays for her crime years later and is never allowed to rid herself of her prison sign. Her state laws blocked her from the most gainful employment opportunities.

So, as she struggled to make ends meet she wearily went from one poor job to another by concealing or omitting her offense—from working in a factory to bartending in a strip joint—she added little to the local or state economy, or to state tax receipts.

"It's been hard to find a decent job," she expressed while looking back at her years of struggle. "I've always had to work somewhere where they don't do background checks."

She earnestly tried, for several years, to lift herself and her three children out of their tight financial spot by studying to be a radiology technician. But that backfired badly: After running up a debt to pay for her studies, she discovered that her felony prevented her from working in the medical world. She couldn't even volunteer at a hospital. Her state law prohibits anyone who has committed any of a long list of felonies from gaining certain professional licenses and many employment opportunities.

Why are millions of offenders like Eve really offenders? They don't have oil, diamond, gold, or any of the world's sacred treasures, nor the power to drastically affect the economy, including interstate commerce. Could it be that they and their children are needed to supply America jails that probably are the only thriving business left? And, could it also be to prevent them from voting against anti-crime legislation that is crippling America? We hope not. By taking away the vote and jobs of millions American offenders each year, mostly poor, there soon will be no need to tamper with ballots.

The majority of criminal's records become life sentences, like Eve's offense, because they are held against them for the rest of their lives. State and federal laws that affect offenders' employment opportunities often do not allow them to resume their lives as they did before prison. Offenders are prone to return to prison because they are prevented from earning a living for themselves and their family regardless of the level of education or skills they may possess. Some offenders like Eve having fortitude and strong pride vowing never to return to prison find themselves living on handouts. Or, they find themselves living on the street digging through other people's garbage in search of food and clothing....

(To view the end of the comment “Have Compassion For Mothers Like Eve?” go to http://homenbusinessservice.com/page8.html

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Correction please
Posted by: Hans B on Jan 1, 2008 3:48 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I totally agree with this article but it would be better without the factual inaccuracy it starts out with.

"On December 10th, the United States Supreme Court voted 7-2 to recognize a gross injustice with respect to sentencing guidelines which disproportionately penalize those convicted of crack versus cocaine related crimes."

Actually the Supreme Court voted not to recognize the gross injustice of the sentencing guidelines. Instead, it upheld a lower court's refusal to apply the overly severe guidelines.

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It all broke!
Posted by: sculptor on Jan 1, 2008 9:04 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I applaud these attempts to reverse the injustices inherent in the criminal "justice" system of this nation but I know they will come to naught. The incarceration of 0.74% of our nations population is systemic. We have prison industries that lobby for the status quo. In addition there is a great and sadistic desire from those on the political right to keep in place the social inequalities that create the societal pressure fields that have molded our minority communities into what is essentially a criminal class. If our social safety net wasn't shot through with gapping holes and if our educational system wasn't totally dysfunction then I'd say there might be a chance in hell of fixing these problem. But they aren't, so there isn't. It's as simple as that

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More than 200,000 prisoners are factually innocent???!!!
Posted by: Davidco on Jan 2, 2008 2:46 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dear Nomi:

This article would have been more helpful with some citations documenting at least its more startling facts.

Where did the information about number of innocent prisoners come from? How was that number generated? I'm sure you'd agree that I can't just cite you to make a figure like that stick.

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freedom means nothing to ex-convicts
Posted by: Rob G. on Jan 3, 2008 1:41 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Many felons leave prison, only to go right back again. They love the free food, free shelter, free clothing, free medical care, free haircuts, and the "freedom" to watch tv all day, or lift weights, or WHATEVER. Freedome means absolutely nothing to them. I say the justice system needs to be made harsher- like how about a national chain gang system? Daily floggings of inmates would be good too. And all inmates should be branded with their prison number using a hot iron- at the very least it should be tattooed on their arm.

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