Posted on 02/01/2017 5:47:54 PM PST by 198ml
For decades, the tough-on-crime movement has well served vote-pandering politicians (remember Jane Orie?), but hasn't reduced crime and imposes an ever-increasing burden on taxpayers.
More specifically, the war on drugs is a dismal failure. Saying “drugs are a serious problem” is an understatement, because drug-related offenses aren't limited to possession and distribution. Many violent and property offenses are also drug-related — another understatement.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
As usual, a thinking disconnect is responsible for the hoier-than-thou conclusion.
Putting any one or any ten offenders in prison is not supposed to reduce the crime rate. It may. It may not. It might be the case that the police catch the easiest to catch criminals who commit fewer crimes “each”.
The purpose of putting a criminal in prison is to prevent that criminal from committing more crimes and to protect the property and safety of the people who are already committed to financing the facility, the prison, where the criminal is to be housed. And that is or should be the start and end of the story.
There is a direct correlation between higher prison occupancy and lower crime rates.
As the number of criminals in prison increased, the crime rate dropped.
When criminals are in prison, they are not committing crimes (at least against people outside of the prison).
Hard to believe that the author disputes this. The numbers are clear.
You are exactly right.
It always amused me to hear people moaning about how much it costs to keep an offender in prison.
First, no one is in prison for a first time non-violent offense. It usually is the last resort for criminals who cannot conform their conduct to society.
Second, prison, and to a certain extent the Death Penalty, is to discourage private revenge. If the victim or their family does not see justice being done, they may be more likely to impose their own version.
Lastly, the cost of prison is much less than the cost of leaving non repentant criminals out on the street...think of insurance, lost wages, continued welfare, and the incalculable costs of what crime does to a victim.
The biggest problem is plea bargaining. Criminals rarely, if ever, do the time for the actual crime they committed. I spent 25 years working in uniform in NY State prisons. Incarceration is supposed to be part of the punishment, but there’s no punishment when you can murder someone, plead guilty to a lesser charge, and be out in a few years. And while you’re doing your reduced time, you can hang with your homies, get packages from home, money, and visits, and whatever else you can extort from some weak convict.
Inmates can run their criminal enterprises from inside the walls too, affecting many people on the outside.
If prisonw were tough criminals would think twice about going straight. I think we should make a deal with Mexico to house our prisoners for the 150 million we give them for foreign aid.
He’s convinced me. Capital punishment should be required for a lot more crimes. It’s terrible to keep so many people in prison when we could just bury them.
He’s convinced me. Capital punishment should be required for a lot more crimes. It’s terrible to keep so many people in prison when we could just bury them.
It is the users who should be put in jail. When congress made the law to punish sellers but let users go free the war on drugs was finished. Everyone knows the law of supply and demand, but it must have slipped through the crack on this one.
Recidivism
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=17
Parole & Probation
https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/ppvsp91.txt
Rape/incest stats https://www.rainn.org/statistics
Doctors kill 2,450% more Americans than all gun-related deaths combined
http://www.infowars.com/doctors-kill-2450-more-americans-than-all-gun-related-deaths-combined/
Third leading cause of deaths Medical Malpractice
http://www.medicalmalpracticelawyer.center/2014/05/new-study-confirms-440000-deat.html
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.