America: Criminals R Us
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
- Start date
Well lets see:
Nope, that doesn't appear to explain it.
Maybe not all or even much of it, but certainly some.
Not that you can see from those graphs. That incarceration rate is per capita. You can see it jumps in the 80's and 90's out of proportion to the population growth. Then it drops even after population continues to grow. The statistics bear little relationship.
Crack and meth and the explosion of inner city gangs is a huge part of this.
It's not like those in prison are just a bunch of wrong place at the wrong timers. You need to do some serious shit, and usually more than once to end up in lock up. It's not like prison is full of weekend pot smokers.
It's not like those in prison are just a bunch of wrong place at the wrong timers. You need to do some serious shit, and usually more than once to end up in lock up. It's not like prison is full of weekend pot smokers.
Good point.
US population has increased by almost 100mil since 1980.
So there are economies of scale at work.
The kids who are allegedly impacted by video games are the one and doners. Big booms. Columbiners. The ones who aren't are the repeat offenders who don't get caught until well after their third violent crime.
Yes. People who disparage liberalism but like Zinn need to recognize that they may be getting one of them wrong.
And, by the way, that goes for some people who call themselves liberal, too.
To me, Zinn is an excellent example of what "liberal" means. It does NOT mean wars, and bailing out Wall Street - as too many who are called liberals today seem to think.
What I mean is; can't he just be a wise person? Does he have to be a wise "liberal?"
Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.MAY 23, 2011
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.MAY 23, 2011
- The number of violent crimes in the United States dropped significantly last year, to what appeared to be the lowest rate in nearly 40 years, a development that was considered puzzling partly because it ran counter to the prevailing expectation that crime would increase during a recession.
In all regions, the country appears to be safer. The odds of being murdered or robbed are now less than half of what they were in the early 1990s, when violent crime peaked in the United States. Small towns, especially, are seeing far fewer murders: In cities with populations under 10,000, the number plunged by more than 25 percent last year.
The news was not as positive in New York City, however. After leading a long decline in crime rates, the city saw increases in all four types of violent lawbreaking — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — including a nearly 14 percent rise in murders. But data from the past few months suggest the city’s upward trend may have slowed or stopped.
Criminology experts said they were surprised and impressed by the national numbers, issued on Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and based on data from more than 13,000 law-enforcement agencies. They said the decline nationally in the number of violent crimes, by 5.5 percent, raised the question, at least in some places, of to what extent crime could continue to fall — or at least fall at the same pace as the past two years. Violent crimes fell nearly the same amount in 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24crime.html?_r=0
http://www.economist.com/node/16636027
The number of Americans being jailed for non-violent crimes such as driving with a suspended license is skyrocketing.
The number of Americans being jailed for non-violent crimes such as driving with a suspended license is skyrocketing.
Thanks Republicrats! How free are you if your own government wants to make you a criminal?
You Commit Three Felonies a Day
Laws have become too vague and the concept of intent has disappeared.
By
L. GORDON CROVITZ
Updated Sept. 27, 2009 11:09 p.m. ET
When we think about the pace of change in technology, it's usually to marvel at how computing power has become cheaper and faster or how many new digital ways we have to communicate. Unfortunately, this pace of change is increasingly clashing with some of the slower-moving parts of our culture.
Technology moves so quickly we can barely keep up, and our legal system moves so slowly it can't keep up with itself. By design, the law is built up over time by court decisions, statutes and regulations. Sometimes even criminal laws are left vague, to be defined case by case. Technology exacerbates the problem of laws so open and vague that they are hard to abide by, to the point that we have all become potential criminals.
Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
You Commit Three Felonies a Day
Laws have become too vague and the concept of intent has disappeared.
By
L. GORDON CROVITZ
Updated Sept. 27, 2009 11:09 p.m. ET
When we think about the pace of change in technology, it's usually to marvel at how computing power has become cheaper and faster or how many new digital ways we have to communicate. Unfortunately, this pace of change is increasingly clashing with some of the slower-moving parts of our culture.
Technology moves so quickly we can barely keep up, and our legal system moves so slowly it can't keep up with itself. By design, the law is built up over time by court decisions, statutes and regulations. Sometimes even criminal laws are left vague, to be defined case by case. Technology exacerbates the problem of laws so open and vague that they are hard to abide by, to the point that we have all become potential criminals.
Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...0709313&PID=4003003&SID=il8tlf9oep005fpm00dth
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department and police officials across the nation are directing their agencies to deal with thousands of children who are left behind following the arrests of parents, from surprise raids at family homes to roadside traffic stops.
Few law enforcement agencies have policies that specifically address the continuing care of children after such arrests, despite an estimated 1.7 million children who have at least one parent in prison, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of children jumps to about 2.7 million when parents detained in local jails are included.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department and police officials across the nation are directing their agencies to deal with thousands of children who are left behind following the arrests of parents, from surprise raids at family homes to roadside traffic stops.
Few law enforcement agencies have policies that specifically address the continuing care of children after such arrests, despite an estimated 1.7 million children who have at least one parent in prison, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of children jumps to about 2.7 million when parents detained in local jails are included.
Thanks Republicrats! How free are you if your own government wants to make you a criminal?
You Commit Three Felonies a Day
Laws have become too vague and the concept of intent has disappeared.
By
L. GORDON CROVITZ
Updated Sept. 27, 2009 11:09 p.m. ET
When we think about the pace of change in technology, it's usually to marvel at how computing power has become cheaper and faster or how many new digital ways we have to communicate. Unfortunately, this pace of change is increasingly clashing with some of the slower-moving parts of our culture.
Technology moves so quickly we can barely keep up, and our legal system moves so slowly it can't keep up with itself. By design, the law is built up over time by court decisions, statutes and regulations. Sometimes even criminal laws are left vague, to be defined case by case. Technology exacerbates the problem of laws so open and vague that they are hard to abide by, to the point that we have all become potential criminals.
Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
That really deserves its own thread.
I get your point, but I think he does need to be a "wise 'liberal.'"
We've had several decades of a concerted effort to make "liberal" a bad word. And that effort has been hugely successful. We have started to see some pushback - some effort to reclaim the word - in recent years, but the rehabilitation is far from complete. Until it is, I think it makes sense to point out when good guys and the things they believe are liberal.
But think how overpopulated the world would be without war!Good place for this reminder:
What a shame that war and starvation are the only methods we seem to consider.
I think I see what you mean. However, if the ideal result is to become a more enlightened, evolved species and society, then emphasis on a conflict of words- Conservative vs. Liberal- may do more to hold you back than waiting for people to get beyond their word issues. It's the same with people who refuse to find spirituality, even in themselves, because they're hung up on the "word" God, and the religious connotation and association they have to it. Those labels are anchors.
Unfortunately, when one side wages war, just allowing them full command of the field rarely results in an enlightened outcome.
To me, for the last 40 years or so, this has been a situation of one side hitting the other over and over again. Now the other side is finally hitting back.
It's not the time for a truce because that lets the instigator keep his gains. And yet I'd be willing to accept a truce if that truce dismantled the rules that have let - and even subsidized - folks like the Kochs use their wealth to create propaganda armies.
Which "side" is waging war here? Ultimately, to heal and evolve, a truce is mandatory.
How do you suggest we achieve that?
And what do you mean by "more highly-evolved"?
Not necessarily in that order.
Dark Money very clearly lays out which side is waging war.
As does Merchants of Doubt.
I strongly recommend both books to anyone who is more interested in what's actually going on than in the food fights we usually see (and sometimes engage in).
The truth is jaw-dropping.
