4 ms·

"These results pose a challenge to those who wish to aggressively scale back incarceration, since the current politics of reducing sanctions for drug offenders

by slasaus 11y ago

"These results pose a challenge to those who wish to aggressively scale back incarceration, since the current politics of reducing sanctions for drug offenders is less complicated than that for reducing punishment for violent or property offenders." I think there is an important difference between someone who is violent against other people versus someone who uses drugs (and might be violent in a sense to him/herself but no one else). So where "reducing sanctions for drug offenders" might be a novel thing to do, "reducing punishment for violent or property offenders" might not be. Apart from which one is "less complicated" or more efficient to the goal of scaling back incarceration.

tptacek 11y ago
You cut the author off before he could finish his point, just a few words later, that many violent offenders also don't belong in prison.
- yummyfajitas 11y ago
  Could you quote this in the text (just enough so I can \C-s to the right place)? I'm having a hard time finding this point in the rather large document.
  - tptacek 11y ago
    "Not all violent offenders are murderers and serious assaulters, and many would likely be better served by not being incarcerated, but the optics and political risks of violent-offender decarceration are much tougher to navigate than those for drug offenses." The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).
    - areyousure 11y ago
      Just to clarify, by "jump" do you mean "surprised", "hit", or "beat the s* out of"? I wasn't familiar with a usage of "jumped" that didn't include at least being hit (if not beat up), and Urban dictionary seems to agree with that interpretation: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped

by slasaus 11y ago

tptacek 11y ago

You cut the author off before he could finish his point, just a few words later, that many violent offenders also don't belong in prison.

yummyfajitas 11y ago
Could you quote this in the text (just enough so I can \C-s to the right place)? I'm having a hard time finding this point in the rather large document.
- tptacek 11y ago
  "Not all violent offenders are murderers and serious assaulters, and many would likely be better served by not being incarcerated, but the optics and political risks of violent-offender decarceration are much tougher to navigate than those for drug offenses." The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).
  - areyousure 11y ago
    Just to clarify, by "jump" do you mean "surprised", "hit", or "beat the s* out of"? I wasn't familiar with a usage of "jumped" that didn't include at least being hit (if not beat up), and Urban dictionary seems to agree with that interpretation: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped