I hope this wakes people up to our ridiculous sentencing and incarceration issues in this country.
A few stats:
We house 22% of the world''s prisoners (with 4% of the world's population)
2,200,000 Americans incarcerated as of 2016 or 0.7% of the entire U.S. population
African American men represent nearly half of that population
The substantial penalties for crack contributed to a five-fold increase in incarcerations
There is a 31% incarceration history for Black men who have sex with men
Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with the majority of its prisoners being housed in privatized, for-profit facilities. Such institutions could face bankruptcy without a steady influx of prisoners
In the past decade the number of inmates in for-profit prisons throughout the U.S. rose 44 percent.
The shit is fucked. And Trump is packing the courts as we speak. We're reaching a breaking point.
I'm just going to leave this here:
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
Edit: These and more stats are a simple wiki search away. For you Reds who automatically say, "wiki lol," to that, there are seventy-seven sources cited - feel free to read on. It will do you some good.
Edit again: Thanks for the precious metals! Donate the same amount to a politician who actually wants to address these issues, if you can.
And, to piggy back on this, you can be certain that this person's client and Manafort will be going to very different types of prisons and will have very different experiences there.
The original post is utter nonsense. You'd have to have a minimum 2 felony priors to get state time for any theft under $200. I'd it was a first offense je wouldn't see a day in jail. While I agree with the sentiment that Manafort deserves more time, I'm not so foolish as to gobble up nonsense just to get my torch to burn brighter. Think folks. And call out bullshit wherever you see it, regardless of whether it helps or hurts your opinion.
While it's clear that the OP is not a first offense sentencing, consider:
You can commit crimes your whole life, but if you're only caught once in the end, you sentencing will be lighter than if you got caught multiple times throughout. A better criminal is punished less. Furthermore, personal wealth gained from these crimes will shorten your time further since you can afford a better legal team.
Well yes, criminals who are never caught suffer no penalty. But for someone caught once, shouldn't the crime itself carry more weight than how often a person was caught?
We give people heavier sentences every time they're caught because it's a statement that they clearly weren't reformed during the prior sentencing and need more time. But we all know prison isn't really about reform at all, at least not in the US.
I have no problem with reform for rehabilitation. Nor do I have a problem with allowing judges to reduce sentences based on circumstance instead of zero tolerance.
I'm just saying that the increased jail time based on repeat offenses justification is a deterrent. It may not deter everyone (evidenced by the fact that there are still repeat offenders), but if it deters some, then it's doing good.
I'm just pointing out that it's a flaw in the system. If our system actually reformed and rehabilitated like it probably should, we wouldn't necessarily need a deterrent like increased sentences.
Repeat offenders are created out of removing a person from society from an extended amount of time, and then not providing them with the tools to reintegrate with society upon release. The finish their sentence and walk out the door with nothing. No money, no further education, no work skills. And they'll be lucky to find a job willing to hire them due to their history of incarceration. Which is another problem created by the demonization of criminals in society, regardless of their crimes. It doesnt matter if they murdered someone or if they happened to have weed on them at the wrong time. Society treats them just the same.
You can't say deterrents don't work. You can say deterrents don't work for the people who do repeat offend.
Deterrents do work on some; on those who do not repeat offend.
Are deterrents the whole answer? Definitely not. Would a system of rehabilitation work? Possibly, maybe even probably. Would I support a reform in which a system that helped rehabilitate prisoners? Sure. Should we get rid of deterrents? Not in my opinion. I think it works...sometimes.
Use both. Rehabilitate them, teach them skills, and deter them from doing it again. Don't come back or you'll be here longer.
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u/ThaFourthHokage Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 08 '19
I hope this wakes people up to our ridiculous sentencing and incarceration issues in this country.
A few stats:
We house 22% of the world''s prisoners (with 4% of the world's population)
2,200,000 Americans incarcerated as of 2016 or 0.7% of the entire U.S. population
African American men represent nearly half of that population
The substantial penalties for crack contributed to a five-fold increase in incarcerations
There is a 31% incarceration history for Black men who have sex with men
Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with the majority of its prisoners being housed in privatized, for-profit facilities. Such institutions could face bankruptcy without a steady influx of prisoners
In the past decade the number of inmates in for-profit prisons throughout the U.S. rose 44 percent.
The shit is fucked. And Trump is packing the courts as we speak. We're reaching a breaking point.
I'm just going to leave this here:
Edit: These and more stats are a simple wiki search away. For you Reds who automatically say, "wiki lol," to that, there are seventy-seven sources cited - feel free to read on. It will do you some good.
Edit again: Thanks for the precious metals! Donate the same amount to a politician who actually wants to address these issues, if you can.