Reply With Quote
I certainly agree that we need to do something about the drug laws. I think its a rather stupid at ude we have about it in this country.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...802280469/1361Report: More than 1 in every 100 Americans behind bars
David Crary / Associated Press
NEW YORK -- For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.
Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 -- one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.
Advertisement
The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.
Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.
"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state -- but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."
The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.
"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.
According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.
The largest percentage increase -- 12 percent -- was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.
The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.
"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."
The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.
"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."
The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails -- a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.
The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
More than any other country in the world? I wouldnt have thought that.
As it is, I think its time to revisit our nation's drug policies, as I am sure the bulk of the prison system is filled with drug offenders.
I certainly agree that we need to do something about the drug laws. I think its a rather stupid at ude we have about it in this country.
The prison industry is just another way for Repugs and rural bubbas to keep a foot on the necks of black men, and make a lot of reliable money doing it.
Corporations are the root of all the problems in America
America has a high violent crime rate as compared with other countries.
china comes in second, even with their massive population.
Consider it done !!
Dec 10, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. judges can impose lighter prison sentences than federal guidelines specify, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in cases involving crack cocaine and ecstacy that could add pressure to overhaul sentencing practices.
In a racially sensitive issue, the justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that judges cannot hand down a lighter punishment simply because they disagree with wide disparities for crack and powder cocaine sentences.
Blacks account for about 80 percent of the federal crack cocaine convictions. The guidelines call for lighter prison terms for the sale of powder cocaine, a drug more popular with whites and Hispanics.
In a related ruling, the court also supported the right of judges to depart from sentencing guidelines in a case involving distribution of the drug ecstasy.
Both rulings were by 7-2 margins -- decisive votes by a court often ideologically split on major issues.
Like how the dems make their people dependent on them and turn them into serfs?
Don't want to go to jail? Don't do drugs or at least be smart about it. It's not that ing hard to comprehend.
All true, but the "3 Strikes" rule applies to drug possession as well.
So, if youre a crackhead and have been caught twice before with crack for personal consumption, the third time you get caught it would be possible to be subject to Federal sentencing laws concerning a repeat drug offender.
Which cons utes a majority of the prison population. 1 in 9 black males aged between 20-34 are in prison.
Im sorry, thats absurd. I am not a big sympathizer with minorities who routinely cry racism at every perceived slight, but that ratio cannot be ignored. Its disgusting.
Jailfare Society.
That's a load of bahooey.
Under the federal "Three Strikes" provision, which is now codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c), the defendant receives mandatory life imprisonment if he or she:
is convicted in federal court of a "serious violent felony" and
has two or more prior convictions in federal or state courts, at least one of which is a "serious violent felony." The other prior offense may be a "serious drug offense."
Under the statute, a "serious violent felony" includes murder, manslaughter, sex offenses, kidnapping, robbery, and any offense punishable by 10 years or more which includes as an element the use of force or that, by its nature, involves a significant risk of force. The statute also enumerates certain nonqualifying felonies, including unarmed robbery offenses and arsons that posed no threat to human life.
However, with that said, the US Supreme court ruling I stated earlier opens the door for the cons utionality of '3 strikes' to be reconsidered before the SC once again.
What's wrong with being an inmate? Just like there is nothing wrong with being gay.
Upon further research, what I said earlier is inaccurate to point where it becomes patently false. My bad.
But what you said isnt patently true, either, on a state to state basis.
For example, California has a very harsh interpretation of the 3 strikes law.
A person who has any 2 prior felonies, is subject to a 3rd strike even if its for something as trivial as "felony petty theft".
So, two seperate home invasion convictions and then getting caught shoplifting an expensive item(s) gets you 25 to life in California.
Thats the truth. As an example:
Your life goes to because youre addicted to [insert drug here]. You start stealing to feed your addiction. Get busted twice for theft [ie burglary, robbery] and subsequently a third time as well, your ass is facing prison for life.
BTW, "possession of a controlled substance" is considered a "strike" in California.
So potentially, you could be involved in a barfight that gets you an assault charge. Get caught with a "controlled substance" twice more, youre a 3 striker.
Bang.Another criticism is that many felonies involve only a minimal threat to society. In some states, possession of a small amount of crack cocaine or even marijuana may be treated as a felony, so three such convictions would carry permanent imprisonment. There are many other felonies which call into question the advisability of strict three-strikes laws, such as some minor white-collar crimes which only marginally qualify as felonies.
I read that in some states 3 infractions for possessing "personal" qty of marijuana (no intention to deal) gets you 15 to life.
MWB, marijuana while black, is a very bad idea, although with 10s of Ms of marijuana smokers, the chances of getting caught are pretty small, so they, even blacks, take the chance.
Old Testament vindictive, puntive, self-righteous "Religion" drives people nuts. I'm sure plenty of the Bible-thumping hucksters use their 100s of $Ms for drugs from time to time, esp on their private jets and yachts and $10M tax-free "parsonages".
We need to get these drug problems out of prison. If crowded prisons and enormous amount of cash that goes to support it isn't bad enough, the prison gangs that form as a result are even worse. We could get rid of problems like the 's Angels, the Mexican Mafia, MS-13 and so forth by relaxing this failed drug war.
It's pretty sad when an entire family is murdered and the hit order comes from within the walls of a prison because some guy didn't pay a prison gang dealer on time. It's even sadder when the guys that order it are convicted and given... another life sentence (essentially, no punishment seeing as they are already in for life).
The prison-security-police-industrial complex is a multi-billion dollar bidnezz for a lot of rich Texans and Americans...that's why there is no real interest to rehabilitate anyone in prison...if your in prison, someone is making money off you...
Prison is even a multi-million dollar business for the inmates. The Aryan Brotherhood makes several million a year.
If anyone's watched the Gangland series on The History Channel, it can make you sick how messed up the whole thing is.
Also prison gangs are unusal in being predominately in the United States.
If you have a comprehensive study that shows a disparity in sentencing for similar crimes committed by the Black and non-Black prison population, then you have a point, if not, you don't.
Convince me, I'm open to facts.
I was speaking only on the matter of federal three strikes law, which was the example you used. States have all kinds of laws on this but, as I said, the SC will be forced to address this soon. Their striking down of the 'mandatory crack sentencing' opens up a whole new can of worms on mandatory sentencing, which, I've always believed was uncons utional. That's just me.
My post was patently 100% correct, as all of my posts are.
I dont want to convince you. Here are some stats:
Black people comprise 13.4% of the American population (~40.2 million).
Black people comprise 44% of American prison inmates
Both in terms of numbers of arrests and length of sentences, African Americans receive "special" treatment. For example, the mandatory sentences for crack cocaine offenses are roughly 100 times more severe than sentences for powdered cocaine offenses. And more Blacks than whites have been convicted of crack cocaine offenses, although the majority of cocaine users are white.
In general, no matter what the offense, Blacks usually serve six more months in prison than whites for the same conviction.At the same time, the arrests of white youth declined as police arrested Black juveniles at 100 times the rate of their white counterparts.According to the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based prison reform organization, between 1986 and 1991 the number of incarcerated Black Americans jumped 465 percent!U.S. incarceration rates by race, June 30, 2006:
Whites: 409 per 100,000
Latinos: 1,038 per 100,000
Blacks: 2,468 per 100,000Only 49% of American prison inmates are serving time for violent crime.South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black males: 851 per 100,000
U.S. under George Bush (2006), Black males: 4,789 per 100,000
State and Federal Inmates by Race
Ratio of Percent of Blacks Among Resident Population to Blacks Among Incarcerated Population
Figure 4African-Americans are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for drug offenses at far higher rates than whites. This racial disparity bears little relationship to racial differences in drug offending. For example, although the proportion of all drug users who are black is generally in the range of 13 to 15 percent, blacks cons ute 36 percent of arrests for drug possession. Blacks cons ute 63 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons. In at least fifteen states, black men were sent to prison on drug charges at rates ranging from twenty to fifty-seven times those of white men. (Figure 4 and Figure 5).
Prison Admissions for Male Drug Offenders by Race
Figure 5
Male Drug Offender Admissions by Race: Ratio of Black and White Rates
Found the last one by accident. http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/incarceration/
Im sure its all a big coincidence, though. Im sure it has nothing to do with poverty, neighborhood and upbringing. Black people just flat out get arrested more, therefore they comprise a disproportionate amount of the prison population.
This wasnt a black/white argument, btw. This was a revisiting of our national drug policy and its effect. 1 in 100 Americans are in prison. 49% of them are in for nonviolent crime.
Fraud is one. Drugs are another. Im leaning more toward drugs than fraud to explain the "nonviolent" aspect, but thats just me.
Last edited by DarkReign; 02-29-2008 at 11:14 AM.
What is the ratio of those sentenced under a "3 Strikes" criteria between the Federal and State level?I was speaking only on the matter of federal three strikes law, which was the example you used. States have all kinds of laws on this but, as I said, the SC will be forced to address this soon. Their striking down of the 'mandatory crack sentencing' opens up a whole new can of worms on mandatory sentencing, which, I've always believed was uncons utional. That's just me.
My post was patently 100% correct, as all of my posts are.
I dont know, but I would venture a guess that the States convict and sentence under "3 Strikes" far more than at the federal level.
How come whottt is not in prison given his stance on drugs?
drugs > cars . . .
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
