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^ This. Cops aren’t your friends. They can and will use anything you say against you, never for you, in a court of law. I’m not saying we don’t need them. I’m

^ This. Cops aren’t your friends. They can and will use anything you say against you, never for you, in a court of law. I’m not saying we don’t need them. I’m saying they aren’t your friend. Never underestimate the ability of a cop to twist the truth. In court, a cop has the fullest faith of the courts even if they don’t show up. Defending yourself against what a cop says happened is almost impossible. It can be done though.

wtetzner 6y ago
> I’m not saying we don’t need them We need them, but we also need them to be held accountable for their actions.
- gabereiser 6y ago
  Absolutely
ashtonkem 6y ago
I have never seen a convincing argument that we don’t need cops, courts, and prisons (not that you’re making that argument). Every society seems to have them, and I have a very hard time imagining a society that wouldn’t lock up someone like, say, Anders Breivik. That being said, it’s pretty obvious that the American justice system is unnecessarily brutal and inefficient. We lock up a huge percentage of our population and have a pretty high recidivism rate compared to our peer nations. Well short of “defunding the police”, we desperately need to rethink the scope and responsibilities of our criminal justice system, and rethink the relationship between police and the citizens of this country.
- gabereiser 6y ago
  We absolutely need cops, courts, prisons, jails and all that. The issue I have is with how they are deployed as tools to correct societies behavior. The way the USA uses them, it doesn't work and only serves to suppress a group of minorities from becoming participants nor leaders in society. Jail is supposed to be for those who did wrong and need a "timeout" so to speak. A wake up call or reality check on their behavior. Prison is more longer term rehabilitation. Problem is, our society's tolerance of crime and sentences for said crimes lands people in jail more often than not. Difference being jail sentences are up to a year, prison year+. Not to mention the absurd bias towards minorities in how we police, how we judge, etc. to fill said jails and prisons which are increasingly becoming For-Profit by leasing prison workforce labor out at 1890s labor costs of $0.27/day. It's legalized slavery.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    Legalized slavery? Enslaving prisoners was never illegal in the US.

wtetzner 6y ago

> I’m not saying we don’t need them We need them, but we also need them to be held accountable for their actions.

gabereiser 6y ago
Absolutely

ashtonkem 6y ago

I have never seen a convincing argument that we don’t need cops, courts, and prisons (not that you’re making that argument). Every society seems to have them, and I have a very hard time imagining a society that wouldn’t lock up someone like, say, Anders Breivik. That being said, it’s pretty obvious that the American justice system is unnecessarily brutal and inefficient. We lock up a huge percentage of our population and have a pretty high recidivism rate compared to our peer nations. Well short of “defunding the police”, we desperately need to rethink the scope and responsibilities of our criminal justice system, and rethink the relationship between police and the citizens of this country.

gabereiser 6y ago
We absolutely need cops, courts, prisons, jails and all that. The issue I have is with how they are deployed as tools to correct societies behavior. The way the USA uses them, it doesn't work and only serves to suppress a group of minorities from becoming participants nor leaders in society. Jail is supposed to be for those who did wrong and need a "timeout" so to speak. A wake up call or reality check on their behavior. Prison is more longer term rehabilitation. Problem is, our society's tolerance of crime and sentences for said crimes lands people in jail more often than not. Difference being jail sentences are up to a year, prison year+. Not to mention the absurd bias towards minorities in how we police, how we judge, etc. to fill said jails and prisons which are increasingly becoming For-Profit by leasing prison workforce labor out at 1890s labor costs of $0.27/day. It's legalized slavery.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  Legalized slavery? Enslaving prisoners was never illegal in the US.