With gay marriage decided, what will be the next big left-led social change?

What is the point of these words?

 

Are drug dealers/users usually good role models, or actively involved in their kids lives in a positive way?

 

And, look, I don't even have a problem with taking another look at sentencing, and/or alternatives to prison. I don't even have a problem with the commutations of people who have served a long time, under sentencing guidelines that have now changed, and have been model prisoners.

But, lets not pretend it's going to make a huge difference in the lives of anyone beyond those released, and possibly their immediate family.

 

Yeah, more drug dealers in the home. Just what children need. #youcannotbeserious

 

Actually, according to this, the increase in incarcaration began in the mid-1970s. Right around when a certain group started accusing another certain group of being "soft on crime".

The Sentencing Project News - Incarceration

 

Quotation marks.

Lovely.

 

How old is the term?

It sounds like a focus group tested term that works in an argument.

Who could be against "mass incarceration"? If you poll people on that question, I bet nearly everyone would be against it.

The devil is in the details, right? What you, me or God forbid Baron, might define as "mass incarceration" could be very different things.

It's the same thing with "immigration reform". Who's against that? It has "reform" in the term after all. Reform is always a good thing. So, everyone says they're for "reform", but it turns out Dems have a very specific idea of what "reform" is, and if you don't buy into their definition of it, you're a racist.

And, let's not forget "choice". Who could be against choice?

There's always been, and will always be, a battle over language. Each side has their experts, and each side knows that if you win this battle, if you frame the argument on your terms, you're more than half way home.

So, again, I'm open to defining the problem, and working to fix it, but when you start using buzz words to win your argument, and demonize your opponents, it's going to be harder to trust you and work with you.

 

I'm not interested in engaging in this argument today. We lock up people in our country at a rate that far outpaces any other civilized nation, and most third world nations, as well. Even conservatives aren't defending it any more.

 

Big money in convicts.

 

Can you compare incarceration rates without comparing crime rates?

I'm still open to an argument, but you can't just argue that the numbers are too high, without looking into why the numbers are so high.

And, what's the alternative? Just arrest fewer people? Shorter sentences? Decriminalization of drugs, and other "minor" violations?

That might all work. It might also be a disaster for low income neighborhoods.

 

Well shit, let's just close down all the prisons:

 

From 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski's recent piece in the Georgetown Law Journal's Annual Review of Criminal Procedure (footnotes deleted)