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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Gene, I think you are much too inclined to trust the printed and spoken 
word.

Yes, our criminal justice system is flawed.  However, exaggeration isn't 
going to fix anything.  I'm quite sure that the vast majority of American 
citizens, including those currently incarcerated would much prefer our 
system to that of China (470 *acknowledged* execution in 2007), Iran (317 
*acknowledged* executions in 2007), Saudi Arabia (143 *acknowledged* 
executions in 2007) and  Pakistan (135 *acknowledged* executions in 2007). 
China's *actual* number is probably closer to 6,000.  And I'm quite sure 
that our juvenile offenders would really much rather have our system than 
that of Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia who have capital 
punishment for juveniles.  As well as the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the 
Sudan and Yemen who have executed juveniles for various crimes.

The *supposed* war on drugs is not simply something that is happening in the 
U.S.  Ask U.S. citizens who have been caught with tiny amounts of drugs in 
other countries.  At least in the U.S. you can get bail, you're guaranteed a 
lawyer and illegal search and seisure is not admissible in court.  In other 
countries it is "do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to 
jail/prison" and the sentence is usually the same as for those who are 
large-scale traffickers!

#1 -  I don't think being unhappy is or should be an excuse for committing a 
crime.

#2 - Could you clarify this one.

#3 - I don't think this one applies.  I think we simply have far too many 
stupid criminals!

#4 - As to harsher laws?  I think that would be all in how you define 
harsher and whose laws you are comparing to.  Do you really think juvie is 
harsher than caning?

#5 - I odn't agree with that one at all.  Our laws are rarely followed as to 
length of sentence and are far below those of other countries.

#6 - That isn't an excuse for committing a crime.

#7 - I agree that EMPLOYED *first-time offenders* should be treated with a 
different set of rules (weekends, community service, fines and stiff 
probation/parole) but only if they aren't repeat offenders.

#8 - Compared to who?

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene GeRue" <genegerue AT ruralize.com>


All countries deal with those who affront society with varying
severity of punishment. In our country, that we like to think is
superior to all others, it seems to me that we have 1) more unhappy
citizens, 2) more laws against personal freedom to act, 3) a far
superior apprehension and conviction system, 4) harsher laws, 5)
longer sentences, 6) a cavalier attitude toward social inequities, 7)
a lack of consideration for productivity lost, and/or 8) we are just
mean people.

There are so many things wrong with our so-called criminal justice
system. We put minor offenders in prison where lose what positive self-
image they might have had and they learn advanced criminal techniques
from other prisoners.

The expense of maintaining a police, court and detention business of
this magnitude is awful. Citizens are in prison, costing we taxpayers
large sums of money to give them food, shelter, clothing and medical
care, and in many cases doing the same for their spouses and children.
Through out various failings we cause and support this war against our
citizens.

The only answers I have are to eliminate dumb laws like the stupid War
on Drugs and to offer non-violent lawbreakers the option of prison
versus a decent job and a strict parole system so they can support
their families and gain a sense of self-worth.


Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: April 23, 2008
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population.
But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a
reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive
American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for
crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely
produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they
are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say
they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American
prison sentences.

The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind
bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the
International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London.

China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a
distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. (That number
excludes hundreds of thousands of people held in administrative
detention, most of them in China’s extrajudicial system of re-
education through labor, which often singles out political activists
who have not committed crimes.)

The full story is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/23prison.html?hp
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