The criminal justice system and mass incarceration.

in criminal •  6 years ago 

A lot of ink has been spilled over how the rise of Trump killed what had been something of a moment for criminal justice reform and rolling back mass incarceration on the right, that had seemed to have real momentum in 2014-2015. Today's rallies and the way they blithely ignore the realities of how gun laws are enforced-- with a racial disparity twice as bad as drug laws, as one of the primary drivers of mandatory minimums and sentence enhancements, and most often as an add-on charge for the war on drugs-- proves those principles never really ran any deeper on the left.

At least the authoritarian strains on the right openly embrace their calls for more and harsher incarceration as what they are. They don't rally for more and longer prison sentences for more people while refusing to acknowledge that's what they're calling for. When they demand, e.g., more deportations and longer sentences and "tough on crime" measures, they don't obfuscate or downplay that the intended result is the government locking up more people. And yet I'm willing to bet the word "prison" won't be mentioned once today from the stage set up on Pennsylvania Ave. What actually happens to people affected once the laws they're demanding get passed and start getting enforced, isn't something they want to acknowledge or talk about. It shatters the illusion of how they like to think of themselves: as peaceful advocates of non-violence, and as enlightened liberal reformers. When all they're really doing is pouring gas on the fire of mass incarceration and encouraging more of the worst aspects of our broken criminal justice system.

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Well done .. beautiful words
True justice is the order of the Lord of creation
He knows what our desires and needs are more than us (the doctrine of the Islamic religion)
Thanks for sharing‏..

What I find very disturbing is the number of repeat offenders. More than half of those released from prison end back behind bars within 5 years. For some offences, there is about an 80% chance of repeat offending. Whatever they are doing in prison is clearly not working.

To solve any problem, it is essential to look at the source and deal with that. This is something I would not expect to be done. Putting people behind bars is good for business. Private prisons make money. Government have an excuse to spend more on law enforcement to proclaim they are protecting us.

Many of those that get locked away do not even go to trial. Lots of plea bargaining goes on to prevent cases going to court. Police often make out they have more evidence than they do and that a trial will result in a much longer sentence. There are cases where the accused pleads guilty even if they are innocent.

You know why?

Because the system is rigged against them, because how can you rehabilitate to get back into society if jails in the US don't promote people to have real jobs or teach classes or even care for the inmates?

they are just there incarcerated for everything and sad part is, since jails are private in the US people are getting rich for it, so they don't care about rehabilitation, heck they embrace repeat offenders because that will give them more money.

The US has 4% of the world's population but has 25% of the worlds prisoners, take that numbers into account. This is all because of the "war on drugs" that has taken over America since president Nixon, and it's dumb.

Also they have such a high number of prisoners because their jails are private, so more people incarcerated more money for the rich and powerful.

Consider also that the majority of these prisoners are African American this also makes this issue one of racism.

Thank you for your well educated post, I enjoyed it.