4 ms·

Wish I could find it, but there was an article recently about analysing why the US appears to have 22% of the world's prisoners. The analysis determined Distric

by awjr 11y ago

Wish I could find it, but there was an article recently about analysing why the US appears to have 22% of the world's prisoners. The analysis determined District Attorneys used to issue prison sentences in about 1/3 of cases and this has gone up to 2/3 of cases. The implication being that DA's needed to show they were tough to progress their political careers.

maxerickson 11y ago
Discussed here recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317198 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317198
yodsanklai 11y ago
I'm playing devil's advocate, but isn't it the proof that democracy is functioning? Where I live, I believe a majority of people are for harsher sentences, or even death penalty (which was abolished a long time ago against popular opinion). I find it sad because I think it's both cruel and ineffective, but I often wonder how to reconcile this view with the idea of democracy.
- VLM 11y ago
  democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for lunch.
  - hwstar 11y ago
    If the Opulent Minority has to be sacrificed in order for the country to move forward, and the Opulent Minority is the lamb, then I guess the populous is going to have lamb for lunch. This is why king Luis XIV was "Shortened a little bit". (Apologies to Alan Sherman).
- coldpie 11y ago
  Well, we don't live in a straight democracy. The constitution declares "cruel and unusual punishment" to be forbidden. I don't think it's a stretch to consider effectively ruining the rest of someone's adult life because they sold some drugs once to be cruel. In this case, the voters' will should be overridden in favor of the limits placed by the constitution.
- maxerickson 11y ago
  There is nothing particularly virtuous about democratic use of power. It's frequently better than the alternatives, but still plenty capable of evil. So democracy functioning is probably better than many of the alternatives, but it isn't a great end goal and shouldn't be surprising that it leaves much to be desired.
- pyre 11y ago
  Well, at the same time most politicians are more concerns with stoking the flames of ignorance and hate as it's a tried and true method to get votes. So these people remain with their ignorance opinions because public figures are encouraging them to keep them.
- realquick81 11y ago
  > but isn't it the proof that democracy is functioning? Oh, so you like proofs? Princeton has a document you may want to read. It proves there's no democracy in the US. Enjoy! > The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/fil...

by awjr 11y ago

maxerickson 11y ago

Discussed here recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317198 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317198

yodsanklai 11y ago

I'm playing devil's advocate, but isn't it the proof that democracy is functioning? Where I live, I believe a majority of people are for harsher sentences, or even death penalty (which was abolished a long time ago against popular opinion). I find it sad because I think it's both cruel and ineffective, but I often wonder how to reconcile this view with the idea of democracy.

VLM 11y ago
democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for lunch.
- hwstar 11y ago
  If the Opulent Minority has to be sacrificed in order for the country to move forward, and the Opulent Minority is the lamb, then I guess the populous is going to have lamb for lunch. This is why king Luis XIV was "Shortened a little bit". (Apologies to Alan Sherman).
coldpie 11y ago
Well, we don't live in a straight democracy. The constitution declares "cruel and unusual punishment" to be forbidden. I don't think it's a stretch to consider effectively ruining the rest of someone's adult life because they sold some drugs once to be cruel. In this case, the voters' will should be overridden in favor of the limits placed by the constitution.
maxerickson 11y ago
There is nothing particularly virtuous about democratic use of power. It's frequently better than the alternatives, but still plenty capable of evil. So democracy functioning is probably better than many of the alternatives, but it isn't a great end goal and shouldn't be surprising that it leaves much to be desired.
pyre 11y ago
Well, at the same time most politicians are more concerns with stoking the flames of ignorance and hate as it's a tried and true method to get votes. So these people remain with their ignorance opinions because public figures are encouraging them to keep them.
realquick81 11y ago
> but isn't it the proof that democracy is functioning? Oh, so you like proofs? Princeton has a document you may want to read. It proves there's no democracy in the US. Enjoy! > The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/fil...