One out of seventy five in jail

Ought there to be way more people behind bars?

The entire punative aspect of the justice system needs to be fundamentally revised. Drug offences routinely garner years behind bars, yet much more damaging crimes with skyrocketing recitivism rates, like pedophilia, go relatively unpunished. It's bullshit.

I second everything you just said here

Personally, I prefer more permanent solutions for the more violent of criminals... so if I were in charge; the prison population would go down. After a few generations, we'd make Canada look like a police state.

Oh HELL no. At least, not in many instances (particularly the nonviolent offender cases).

Sure, if you stick a rapist/killer/pedophile/violent individual behind bars, it benefits us all and makes us safer. Unfortunately, MANY of the people behind bars are there for nonviolent offenses.

What happens when you stick someone in prison?
You put him in an environment full of other people who have committed crimes, they talk about what they've done, what they "should have done" to get away with the crime, etc (not to mention the exposure to violence IN prison, which just makes them worse).

Then once they come out, they have a criminal record, which just makes it tougher to find work and "brands" them. Its like a vicious cycle of negativism. What good can come of it?

Unfortunately, so much of the criminal system has become influenced by politics, that its become a huge mess.

The enron execs (who have RUINED thousands of lives) suffer much less serious consequences than a person who has been arrested for much less crimes. Go figure.

Pfffft. Set the highjump bar at three inches, why doncha.

Hell, if I was in charge, I'd send every kid to the same reform school where I counterfeited my diploma. They'd work hard labor for 22 hours and sleep on a block of ice for 2, to build character. Commie types heard using the word 'welfare' would be fed to lions - or to dairy cows...whichever would hurt most. Anyone caught stealing would be used for brain experiments and those who seduced virgins outside of marriage would be mixed with old tires and then melted into patio floor tiles so they could look up dresses forever. Everyone who refused to partake of the wisdom of the Bible or at least one American-authored self-help book would be covered with tar and cheesies then nailed to the pavement as highway pylons.

the more corrupt a society the more laws it enacts the more fodder for its prisons. It's a law and order world we live in.

dys

Over at Waggery, we are casting about for contributors to a stirring new national anthem for reborn Iraq. You are exactly the type who might stir a group of citizens to heights previously undreamt of.