marharth Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 This is about the following. 1. How well the prison system works, and the huge number of people in jail in the US. 2. The war on drugs. 3. How well the entire justice system works. I think having private prisons run the entire system is a terrible idea. I also think the entire justice system is misguided to focus on punishment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zegh8578 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) drug law inforcement is always futile. everyone knows its futile, and best of all, the drugrunners know its futile, and they relish in the futility of it. the only reason i can think of, why politicians keep banging their heads against it, in such a futile way, is because of "image" the only option to remove the crime, is to make it non-criminal. legalize, and control.and mind you - people who want to smoke pot, or sniff cocaine, they do so allready. there isnt a single person out there going "man, i'd LOVE to try pot, but alas, it is against the law. ah shucks, maybe next life."so, _nothing_ is being achieved. legalize, pack it, label it, control it, tax it, like tobacco and alcohol (the latter is a tremendously destructive drug) but making any political step towards legalization is detrimental to a politicians image, and labels him as a "hippie" or a "stoner", so they wont touch it or even discuss it.so instead we (im not american, but arouuund the world) spend millions/billions/trillions (depending on currency) trying to combat an unbeatable foe, well knowing of its futility, like some pointless ceremonial tradition, which even ends in thousands of violent deaths each year (especially in afghanistan, colombia and mexico, to name the most active places) Edited December 6, 2011 by zegh8578 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFourthHorse Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Well for one I believe the prison system is contradictory. Prisons cost a fortune to fund between health care and extra security to provide “basic human rights” such as visitors, yard time, and (simply) things to do. While I don’t necessarily disagree with this policy, I still believe if we want to spend this kind of money to treat prisoners as such we should at least try to reform them in order to try and decrease repeat offenders. If we are simply trying to punish them... well... then we aren’t doing it right. I find the subject of war on drugs annoying as it’s the same with all things relating to law enforcement. It was never a battle that was intended to be won. There will always be crime and drugs because it’s basic human weakness and as D.H. Lawrence put it... there’s no point in casting out devils… they belong to us. To prevent these devils from consuming us we just must keeping fighting them to win. No matter how brightly we shine we will always cast shadows. Marijuana is the only one I believe to be harmless, the rest are worth fight against. The justice system is broken… plain and simple. Jail turns first time offenders into hardened criminals. I’m no expert but it seems like prisoner segregation and isolation are the only things to fight this besides some effort to rehabilitate them instead of punish them. Unless I ever work in prison though, I’m not going to try and claim I have the slightest idea of how the system works much past speculation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) Drugs are bad, that is not why people want them legal. What is the harm in someone doing heroin? It costs a lot to send drug users to jail. I don't think any non violent offender should be in jail anyways. Drugs cause a lot more issues being illegal then legal. What about the gangs that get most of their funding off drugs? Something else not about the rest of my post, why do people insist in having a trial by jury of their peers? That is really a bad idea imo. Edited December 6, 2011 by marharth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFourthHorse Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) Honestly, marharth, I find that pretty narrow-minded. I don’t mean to be offensive but have you seen how heroin can affect a family? Have you seen what people do to get a fix? Legal or not, such powerfully addictive drugs are incredibly damaging to the human body. Seeing your mother overdose in front of you may make someone like me biased but so be it... I’m biased but I would gladly pay high taxes rather than let someone’s mother or brother kill themselves knowing there was something I could do to try and stop it. Edited December 6, 2011 by TheFourthHorse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Honestly, marharth, I find that pretty narrow-minded. I don’t mean to be offensive but have you seen how heroin can affect a family? Have you seen what people do to get a fix? Legal or not, such powerfully addictive drugs are incredibly damaging to the human body. Seeing your mother overdose in front of you may make someone like me biased but so be it... I’m biased but I would gladly pay high taxes rather than let someone’s mother or brother kill themselves knowing there was something I could do to try and stop it.So making heroin illegal stops people from overdosing on heroin how? People do just as much drugs either way. In fact people do less drugs in quite a few countries where they are legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFourthHorse Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I’m going to ignore the last part because it’s the weakest argument I hear but it’s the fight to reduce the flow and stop the people who are on it I’m talking about. I’ve met countless people who were former addicts who hit rock bottom, gone to jail or rehab programs (instead of jail), and gotten clean. The problem, as stated before, is that they are sending people to jail for possession instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 How is that a weak argument? Many countries with legal drugs have less drug users and addicts. Making them illegal won't change anything. If you are a addict you rarely have a choice. Chances are if you go into jail things will get worse, as you said yourself. Good luck with trying to get into rehab if you were arrested for drug crimes. How about funding a program to help addicts instead of arresting them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beriallord Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) If you are going to sentence someone to 20+ years, you may as well just execute them, instead of providing them with food, shelter, health care for that amount of time. I think a 3 strikes and your out system would be great. 3 repeat felonies, and you get a lethal injection. There is no rehabilitation for repeat offenders, may as well just execute them. Edited December 6, 2011 by Beriallord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukertin Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) I think a 3 strikes and your out system would be great. 3 repeat felonies, and you get a lethal injection. There is no rehabilitation for repeat offenders, may as well just execute them.What a wonderful idea, so if I steal someone's mail three times I get executed! Why is this thread titled "The US justice system" when it's about the US penal system? Edited December 6, 2011 by lukertin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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