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We are over-taxing the justice system; we need to decriminalize a lot [of] behavior that would be better managed by the health care system. A majority of people

We are over-taxing the justice system; we need to decriminalize a lot [of] behavior that would be better managed by the health care system. A majority of people in prison are mentally ill. Many are there for drug convictions or behavior in service of an addiction. So reducing the number of people brought into the system would be a strong start. Stop voting for tough-on-crime politicians, and start getting smart on crime. -- Sean O’Brien

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Everyone has their pet issues that they want everyone on the wrong side of put to death (or otherwise punished harshly) for. These people won't vote for officials who don't do that so in order to be most electable politicians/DAs/judges/sheriffs have to be tough on all the crimes and we get the status quo. It's basically a tragedy of the commons that makes reducing input of alleged criminals to the legal system politically impossible.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  I'm certainly not one of the "everyone" you describe. Let's be better than that.
zeveb 7y ago
I agree with his point, but I think that it's also important to note that there was a reason why 'tough on crime' was electoral gold for so long: the U.S. really did have a problem with violent crime (still does, in comparison to other countries, but it's a lot better now than it was). There are a whole lot of reasons for that. Our history of racial injustice absolutely destroyed so many black communities, to a degree I hadn't appreciated before I considered it. Closing the asylums (which really were awful, but also really were needed) was another problem. The widespread attitude that the justice system is to punish the guilty rather than reform people who have done bad things is another. I suspect that the fact that Americans descend from folks who were so unusual that they fled across continents and oceans to get away from their communities can't possibly help. But for all that, prior to the tough-on-crime movement we really did have a problem with real crime — by 'real' I mean crime with actual victims. Things are much better now, and we are much richer now, and so now we have the luxury of being smarter.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  No, USA never had such a "problem with violent crime" to justify anything like the evil we've done to the incarcerated in this country. Maybe the media or politicians told you that, but they were scamming your prejudices for attention and votes. Violent crime is much lower now than it was in decades past, but that's true of pretty much anywhere else on earth. The violence we have is mostly a result of drug prohibition (which could go away anytime we decide we'd like less violence) and our colonial legacy. Comparing USA to Belgium is for suckers. The nation to which we are most similar is Brazil. They also have more violence than homogeneous non-colonized nations.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

Everyone has their pet issues that they want everyone on the wrong side of put to death (or otherwise punished harshly) for. These people won't vote for officials who don't do that so in order to be most electable politicians/DAs/judges/sheriffs have to be tough on all the crimes and we get the status quo. It's basically a tragedy of the commons that makes reducing input of alleged criminals to the legal system politically impossible.

jessaustin 7y ago
I'm certainly not one of the "everyone" you describe. Let's be better than that.

zeveb 7y ago

I agree with his point, but I think that it's also important to note that there was a reason why 'tough on crime' was electoral gold for so long: the U.S. really did have a problem with violent crime (still does, in comparison to other countries, but it's a lot better now than it was). There are a whole lot of reasons for that. Our history of racial injustice absolutely destroyed so many black communities, to a degree I hadn't appreciated before I considered it. Closing the asylums (which really were awful, but also really were needed) was another problem. The widespread attitude that the justice system is to punish the guilty rather than reform people who have done bad things is another. I suspect that the fact that Americans descend from folks who were so unusual that they fled across continents and oceans to get away from their communities can't possibly help. But for all that, prior to the tough-on-crime movement we really did have a problem with real crime — by 'real' I mean crime with actual victims. Things are much better now, and we are much richer now, and so now we have the luxury of being smarter.

jessaustin 7y ago
No, USA never had such a "problem with violent crime" to justify anything like the evil we've done to the incarcerated in this country. Maybe the media or politicians told you that, but they were scamming your prejudices for attention and votes. Violent crime is much lower now than it was in decades past, but that's true of pretty much anywhere else on earth. The violence we have is mostly a result of drug prohibition (which could go away anytime we decide we'd like less violence) and our colonial legacy. Comparing USA to Belgium is for suckers. The nation to which we are most similar is Brazil. They also have more violence than homogeneous non-colonized nations.