What is the problem here? Is it drug laws, for example, which sentence non-violent offenders to long prison terms? Or Is it something else? Your thoughts?
2007-10-03 00:22:50 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Michael F, the only source I have for my question is a statement made on the Today Show this morning (10/03/07) on NBC. Is that enough for you? It's all I have.
2007-10-03 00:31:17 · update #1
Michael F, do you have an answer to my question, or will this be all you have to say?
2007-10-03 00:42:40 · update #2
Take a look at when Nixon declared a "war on drugs" and watch as the inmate population has steadily increased since that time. Is this a bad thing? I don't know, but I do know that its costing billions....but on the otherhand, it creates an enormous bank of jobs......call me a conspiracy theorist, but I believe that we absolutely have to have crime in order to survive as a country...imagine the amount of jobs lost if Crime were even reduced 50%. I can tell you this though, of the 13 murders we had in our city last year, 10 of them were drug related.......there always seems to be a correlation betwen drugs and SECONDARY crime......
2007-10-03 10:32:59 · answer #1 · answered by gonzo735 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
A rise in crime? That would be my guess.
I'm lazy and don't really care why someone who broke the law is sitting in prison but I did a quick look at the Dept. of Justice Stats.
Over half of the State Prisoners (2003) were in prison for violent crimes. About 20% are in prison for Property crimes. Another 20% for Drug offenses and the rest (under 10%) are locked up for other violations.
Just wanted to throw that out there since every stoner that can find his keyboard is going to put something here about the drug war.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
Edit: Go here for the real crime stats for 2006 instead of taking someones word for it:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius
Most crimes are on the rise.
By the way drug use is illegal. How can it be illegal to lock someone up for breaking the law? Reread the part of my answer about stoners and keyboards.
Edit: Thanks a lot for the spelling tip lmndrp44. I did do a quick spell check but since look and lock are both real words it did not flag it. Still does not negate the facts. Yes, it is 2007, very good you found the calendar. I pulled up some quick stats that should still be pretty accurate one was from 2003. None of this changes the fact that I at least answered the question and you didn't. All you could do was launch a persoanl attack against me. People who do that usually do it because they have no decent counter point. Oh by the way, you only need one punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.
2007-10-03 00:34:47 · answer #2 · answered by El Scott 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Drug laws, population growth, cultural change, the rise of gangs... that's all I can remember, but the big one is drug laws.
From lp.org:
"Since nearly six out of every ten federal prison inmates are there for non-violent drug-related offenses, it's clear that drug prohibition is the primary source of this over-crowding. It has been estimated that every drug offender imprisoned results in the release of one violent criminal, who then commits an average of 40 robberies, 7 assaults, 110 burglaries and 25 auto thefts."
NOTE: The original question's source comes from a special on ABC by Ted Koppel. It airs some time this week.
2007-10-03 00:28:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
"more people in prison than it had 25 years ago?"
If that actually is the truth, is this a problem or is the lack of self control, integrity, or ability to follow social norms that results in their imprisonment the problem ?
Clearly you pose a drug law question. I'm sorry but I will not accept that drug laws are useless and the "war on drugs" has no effect. From what I see first hand, it does have an effect. Drug abuse in this area, and I refer to marijuana, heroin, cocaine and such has dropped. The big problem now is prescription drug abuse. More are arrested for this than any other form of drug crime now. If the other drugs cannot be obtained easily, all one has to do is know the symptoms of the ailment, go to your local dr. and get the med prescribed. Or, steal the meds from Grandma or your neighbors. I see this all the time.
The problem is that people need to change their priorities. An escape through drug use is not the way to go. How hard is it to just experience life as it is ? Some say, God gave us the ability to create such drugs. Weed smokers often cite the same example: God created marijuana for man to use. Well, he also gave us the ability to kill and do other terrible and disturbing things. But he also gave us the ability to reason. He gave us the ability to learn when its not appropriate and not acceptable (wisdom). Many don't use it.
2007-10-03 01:05:12 · answer #4 · answered by Robert S 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, the problem is this current generation has grown up in schools that since 1961 have banned God. They have grown up in broken or nonexistent families. They have grown up mostly without fathers. They have been raised in schools that do not teach basic skills. They have grown up listening to popular music that hammers home the concept that if they want something they should get a gun and take it.
Do you know what is really amazing? That there aren't a lot more in prison.
Back decades ago, some judge decided that after two hundred years of president, that freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution really meant freedom from religion. That was around 1961 or so. At that time, national surveys of public school principals showed that the biggest problems schools had was kids running in the hallways, chewing gum and talking in class. Now, the biggest problems schools face are teen pregnancy, gang violence and suicide.
You young people have had your Constitutional rights degraded and your futures compromised by my generation of Baby Boomers. What you see now is our legacy.
It is up to you to restore America to what it is supposed to be.
I have been fighting against the left for many decades. A few more decades and there will be none left who remember how it is supposed to be.
.
2007-10-03 00:39:23 · answer #5 · answered by Jacob W 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Not going to quibble over the "four times" figure but it does sound skewed.
We have more incarcerated today because in the 1980s we decided to start punishing criminality rather than just pat the poor misunderstood souls on the head and blame their "difficult upbringing". Anybody who can still remember the Carter years knows that there was a feeling that the US was going to hell in a hand basket and there was no one in charge. Things looked pretty bleak for a while and that made a tough law and order stance very attractive.
2007-10-03 01:49:15 · answer #6 · answered by gunplumber_462 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Before I'd believe anything the media put out as a statistic, I'd have to ask the question "are there 4 times more people in the country than there were 25 years ago?"
2007-10-03 01:22:35 · answer #7 · answered by Lisbeth 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
lol Non violent offenders. Clearly, you have never arrested some of the drug users I have, even as a store loss prevention officer, the ones with drugs on them tend to fight.
2007-10-03 03:34:21 · answer #8 · answered by Kevy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because in our prisons, they get food, clothes, can work and have shelter. Out in the real world they'd have to work for it. There are less jobs and more people so to commit a crime isnt all that bad if it gets them off the streets. ( Thier way of thinking not mine)
2007-10-03 04:55:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That would be the ever increasing "War on drugs" that doesn't work in any country ever, and is illegal, and based on lies and corporate greed, imagine that?
Also the increasing penalties and police state laws being passed under our noses.
The government is trying to get everyone under control, and scared so when the marshal law comes there will be less resistance.
2007-10-03 03:36:16 · answer #10 · answered by TheAwokenOne 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋