In spite of everything that’s being said, I still have a sense of “ah, everything is right in the world” because we have no fewer than FOUR kick-ass* BillyTheMountain threads on page one right now.
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- the only kind he makes, I think
Two new reports, by The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch, have turned the spotlight on law enforcement’s overwhelming focus on non-Whites.
Black men are 12 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses as adult White men.
Between 1980 and 2003, drug arrests for African-Americans rose at a trate 3 times the rate for Whites, a disparity “not explained by corresponding changes in rates of drug use.”
In 2006, 4/5 of the arrest for illegal drugs were for simple possession, not for manyfacture or sale.
Fully 4 in 10 of all drug arrests are for marijuana.
While the rest of your post is obvious, considering the situation…
What are the rest? The 6 out of 10?
Cocaine, meth, heroine, and [insert any other illegal drug’s name here] is what I’m guessing.
If you really want to understand why there are so many people in prisons in america, go work in one. No-one is there for singing too loud in church.
While it is certainly true that we (USA) occasionally incarcerate people for what is maybe not necessarily an act of violence, plenty of the people who are there are in fact guilty of violent crimes. Very few hot check writers wind up in the joint. I would estimate that at this time, in the prisons in which I work, greater than 50% are either METH dealers / cookers or or sex criminals (the majority of which are guilty of child molestation). Dealing / cooking METH is not, in my opinion, victimless. Is rape or child molestation?
Notice that I did not mention murderers or thos guilty of the various offenses of battery.
Relative to the disproportionate #'s of minorities, I have had the opportunity of working ER’s for about 18 years before I went to work in the joint. I would estimate, that in my experieice, in excess 90% of the gunshot recipients I have treated over the years have been minorities. By their own accounts they were NOT VICTIMS, They were involved in highly risky illegal activities.
I once read in an epidemiology book that the risk of violent death for a black male between the ages of 18 and 25 was 18 times higher “on the street” than in the joint. I wonder why that is, surely it’s not related to choir practice.
Maybe before you start bashing the USA you should speak to some ER docs or prison medical personnel and get some insight whereof you speak. Notice that I did not suggest security personnel, you might think they are biased.
We certainly spend a tremendous amount of money on incarceration. I, for one, would suggest that caning, as is done in Singapore, would be a lot cheaper. On the other hand, maybe we should just kill more of them.
OK GANG, GO FOR IT!!!1
It shouldn’t matter if they were engaged in “highly risky behavior”… it should only matter if they actually violated someone elses rights.
Like when they failed to scramble “meaningful help” to New Orleans for nearly a week. Conspiracy, or screw-up? The more likely answer is B.
Funny how when you point a finger at someone 3 of your own fingers point back at yourself.
YOU have started bashing the USA, by suggesting Americans are BAD people who belong in prison. If America has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the prisoners, you are saying Americans are VERY BAD and they should be imprisoned!
I, on the other hand, love Americans and America, and suggest the nation is misallocating their resources, including their wonderful and precious human resources.
Billy
+1
Raphael,
Thanks!
Billy