Random Politics & Religion #00

Uh, Baltimore says hi?

Generally speaking, they don't even apologize. From everything I've read, they treat you exactly like you really were guilty and are being released at the end of a sentence. Including delaying your release based on paperwork.

"Yeah. Falsely imprisoned? Too *** bad, warden's on vacation today. Yeah, we saw on the news your were found innocent, but sorry, Warden Golfypants needs to sign off either way..."

So what?

Are we not allowed to have a prison simply because we on some occasions incarcerate innocent people?

EDIT: I mean don't take this to mean that I advocate for false imprisonment, but our current justice system functions better than it ever has in the history of humankind doesn't it?

Are you volunteering?

Portugal says hello.

I neither understand nor endorse the use of most psychoactives (caffeine is my lone exception), but the grand experiment in Portugal has been a success. And we have hard science that goes a long way towards explaining why.

Meanwhile in Hope Arkansas:

/despicable me gru voice

lightbulb!

Right legalize drugs and have those who choose to make something of their lives subsidize the comfy existence of those who don't.

"oh hey we need more of your money for free needles and public rehab programs."

Hell with free drugs how about a free Tibet !

New front on social justice: Having a loving family is "unfair".

Time to make reading to your kids against the law, cause it gives kids an unfair advantage. How long before this toxic Aussie liberal garbage gets regurgitated over here? How long before they blame it on our disgusting institutional racism?

Why do you think this is true?

Or you can just come to Serbia and buy pills that you would normally need a prescription for at any pharmacy located on every block and buy the rest of your needs from a mobster and have a few drinks with them like a normal person, lol.

I'll stick with drinking thank you very much ! It's legal how can it be bad for you !

Well part of the problem here is that a lot of advocates of legal drugs just are in it for selfish reasons. Would it work here, though? It might, but I think it's safe to say that Portugal isn't exactly the most fitting control group.

Why do you think it isn't?

we can certainly pretend that it does!

Huh?

It's a philosophical debate going back to Plato's The Republic

Was Plato a liberal?

Surprisingly, it seems that you didn't actually read the article thoroughly.

How much LSD do I have to take to see the said sunshine and rainbows ?

Speaking of which it's time to grab some beer since I just finished my 3rd article.

Well, I posted research that shows why there are serious flaws.

You are the one now claiming it is the best system in the history of humankind, a seriously bold claim.

/readys Nausi voice

Nice dodge man! Why don't you just answer the question!

As long as Baltimore is the beacon of hope and justice that it is...things are working just fine !

Um... not even remotely?

Our prison system does almost nothing in terms of rehabilitation and re-entry. In most cases, an inmate may be released into the community with no more support than a parole officer who has dozens of other cases and simply cannot expend time and energy on an individual's needs. The increased privatization of prisons has made them extraordinarily dangerous to both guards and prisoners alike. When there is some kind of education program in place, they can be stupid. Here in Ohio, prisoners were given HVAC training, but you can't perform an HVAC job without a state license that requires a clean criminal record!

There's basically no hope once you've gotten out of prison, or even been convicted of a lesser crime that doesn't involve jail time. The still-flagging economy makes it substantially more difficult to find steady paying work with a criminal record, a fact that is entirely legal in most states, and some places even ban ex-cons from receiving public assistance. It's a half-assed death sentence or a guarantee that someone will pursue illicit means of support.

The function of our prison system, which is the largest in the world, is to lock people up with others who have committed crimes, some percentage of whom are an imminent danger to others, and expect them to somehow get better. I know a lot of ex-cons and some have become so institutionalized that they rarely spend more than a couple months out of prison because they can't handle the real world. One guy I know will literally attach himself to your hip because he got so used to being surrounded by people that he gets anxiety attacks when left alone. It's a meat-grinder in the worst sense and imprisonment has a negative correlation with recidivism.

Our court system is built around elected judges (or judges appointed by elected officials, depending) trying cases brought by elected prosecutors. It railroads the entire system such that conviction rate is the only thing that matters, hence why the overwhelming majority of cases are settled by plea bargain rather than jury or bench trial. It makes an excessively aggressive system, from the police on up (because the police are perceived as being lazy when arrests drop, even though that's actually an indication of lower crime rates), and regularly results in wrongful or flawed convictions because the electorate doesn't look at how many cases get successfully overturned, pardoned, or expunged.

The only groups that tend to actually be working at what we need in our justice system are the probation and parole officers and public defenders, all three of whom are incredibly over-worked and frequently underpaid.

In what sense can our justice system possibly be seen to be working well?

See the rainbows just once? or all the time?

you could also wrestle little miss "walking on sunshine" 's air duster cans away... she tastes the rainbows...

Will you be "My brother's Keeper" Obama will be !

Because when you compare it against itself (historically), it seems to be pretty poor at preventing incarceration?

Why?

It does bring up an interesting concept, though. There is this idea that the only way to create equality is to make everyone equally miserable, because it's far easier than making everyone equally happy. Why buoy up the disadvantaged when you can just hack at the knees of the elite?

"Plato famously wanted to abolish the family and put children into care of the state."

Was Plato a liberal? Of course he was.

"I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally."

This is how crazy liberal ideas get started. Some opinioned jabroni waxes on about some obscure concept of social justice. Probably while loving the smell of his own farts.