home
5 Years for Passing a Joint: Stop this Bill Now | 93 comments (93 topical)
Re: 5 Years for Passing a Joint: Stop this Bill No (none / 0) (#94)
by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 08:35:03 AM EST
I think a lot of people are missing the point. Despite what you may feel about certain drugs, the real issue here is prison. Prison has been shown time and time again to not be an effective deterant to crime. Look how high recividism rate are. Why is that? Here's a hypothetical situation: I'm a college kid, who's never been in any serious trouble aside from the normal young adolescent crap. I smoke a J, and pass it off to a fellow student (who's not yet 18, being born late in the year). I get caught. I'm forced to serve a mandatory multi-year sentance. So, I'm locked away with 2 Million (the US prison population and one of the highest in the world) murderers, rapists, hard core drug dealers, gangs and a host of other violent offenders. So, it's like tossing a fresh stake to hungry dogs. I endure a living hell, but somehow, some way, I survive, but not unscarred... However, when I return to society, I've been a prison so long, I don't know how to function. I can't get a job, becuase I'm a convicted drug fellon, and the only thing I know (thanks to my fellow prisoners) is how to be a criminal. Not so long after, I wind up back in jail and the cycle contiunes until I end up in jail for lilfe, or die. This is exactly what is happening all across The United States. This is why 20% of Black Males are in prison, because of Draconian laws that fail to act as a deterant, and infact breed more crime. Crime, like the problem of substance addiction must be dealt with at its root causes, and that is poverty. People use drugs to escape their dismal lives (I know I did), and people sell drugs because they see no better way to make livings for themselves.

5 Years for Passing a Joint: Stop this Bill Now | 93 comments (93 topical)

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft