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Adam
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End the drug war!!!
LANSING -- Michigan's $2 billion prison system will cost another $500 million in four years -- a 25 percent increase -- unless policymakers can reduce the number of lawbreakers who end up behind bars.
That's one conclusion from a new report on the state corrections system by the respected Citizens Research Council of Michigan, which projects the 50,200-inmate population will swell by 5,800 in that time.
The report was unveiled on Friday at a meeting of about 100 prison experts who sought answers to the question: Can we reduce prison spending and protect residents?
Matthew Johnson, a fellow at the council, said corrections officials have reduced the number of inmates entering prison, but once in, they stay about a year longer than the national average. In addition, costs for health care, utilities and wages "are growing at a faster rate than they have historically," he said.
Neither Johnson nor the rest of the participants endorsed a particular way of getting a handle on prison costs. They exchanged such ideas as diverting substance abusers and mentally ill offenders into non--prison programs, generally agreeing the state can't afford the kind of added spending the Citizens Research Council projects.
But Eaton County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sauter, past president of the County Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, looks at the issue differently. He said all of the discussion failed to consider crime victims.
Sauter recounted tragic cases familiar to him, including a parolee who killed a homemaker he found at home baking cookies: "She was tied up with an electrical cord and shot with her husband's shotgun," he said. He said Michigan's violent crime rate of 34 per 100,000 residents is above that of surrounding states, and its prison incarceration rate -- 22 percent of all people convicted of felonies -- is below the national average. Policymakers shouldn't simply decide to save money by keeping more criminals out of prison, he said.
"We live in a democracy," he said in a subsequent interview. "Give citizens all the facts and they'll make the decision about how much we want to spend on corrections versus such areas as higher education and roads." |
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Sat May 03, 2008 11:33 am |
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Dave Starr
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| Do we stop prosecuting users and just go after dealers, or what? If drugs are legalized, there would still be users doing crimes to get money to buy it, and dealers undercutting the prices at the legal outlets. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat May 03, 2008 2:00 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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The easiest thing would probably be to legalize medical marijuana and then marijuana and possibly go from there. With marijuana people would just grow it themselves and it would eliminate marijuana dealers, and marijuana users would no longer need to steal because it would be free.
If you look at the history of alcohol prohibition and the history of Drug prohibition you would see the similarities particularly with the African American community.
From what I have read the billions of dollars we have spent on the drug war is almost a complete waste of money. Drug usage rate has barely if at all changed.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=7e3511c64a136fa70d8ca13faef6605d
"According to Human Rights Watch, while Blacks and whites have similar rates of drug use, Blacks go to jail at 13 times the rate of whites. Although African Americans comprise only
12.2 percent of the population, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses."
The drug war has failed
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/faileddrugwar_shadow_factsheet_library.cfm
Last edited by Adam on Sat May 03, 2008 3:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sat May 03, 2008 2:12 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| I dont think its the marijuana users who are commiting crimes to obtain some weed to smoke since its considered and claimed to be non addictive. Crackheads, Methaddicts, heroin junkies now they have to have what they are hooked on and will pretty much do anything to obtain it. Big difference between a stoner and some psycho whacked out of their mind on meth. Decriminalizing marijuana makes sense. It would free up the sytem to go after the suppliers of the real drugs. And I must say once ya get em in custody make sure they have no desire or the ability to ever consider that line of work again. Of course the bleeding hearts will prevent that from ever occuring so the drug war will continue until we get serious about ending it much like the gang problem in most cities. |
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Sat May 03, 2008 3:02 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:30 pm |
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strattonsigns
F L I N T O I D
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| Serious question....can we excommunicate convicted felons? I mean..can we find someone guilty of a felony and the punishment be barring them from enetering the state? |
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:38 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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Serious? Where would you propose sending them? Would you want all the prison breakers from Katrina landing here in your neighborhood?
I caught a short part of a TV story recently where a prison system in another state retrained prisoners to be able to find work upon release. One woman who had been released and ended up going back into prison for offenses committed because she couldn't find work was being trained in culinary skills. When interviewed she was happy and overcome with emotion at being offered this opportunity. Better for her and others like her to become self-supporting. Better for all of us. |
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:55 pm |
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Demeralda
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Right on, Adam.
TT has it right too -- non-addictive drugs rarely lead to drug-related crime. I'm convinced that alcohol leads to more violence than marijuana.
The prison situation -- what a mess. We have to dump mandatory minimums, particularly for drug offenses. I heard a woman yesterday who got caught up with her boyfriend who was a dealer, and she got a mandatory minimum of 15 years (she was 18 at the time). She never sold a thing, but she was with him, and got a conspiracy charge. They didn't even offer her a plea deal.
Now tell me, what is served by imprisoning this person? Ridiculous. |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:01 am |
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Mellow D
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Have you ever noticed that the privatization of the prison industry came at about the same time in the 80's as the "War on Drugs"? Once we began allowing AT&T to use prison labor at a dollar a day, we also started to lock folks up for having a joint in their socks.
By 1990, 421 Americans out of every 100,000 were behind bars, easily outdistancing our closest competitors, South Africa and the then USSR. By 1992, the U.S. rate had climbed to 455. In human terms, the number of people in jails and prisons on any given day tops 1.2 million, up from fewer than 400,000 at the start of the Reagan era.
Today, the US prisons and jails house 3 times as many people with serious mental illness as US mental hospitals do. And the South Carolina Senate recently considered legislation that would take up to 180 days off prisoners' sentences if they donated an organ.
Gotta love the free market. |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:31 am |
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strattonsigns
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| Why marijuana is illegal is beyond me. If they legalized it it would probably cut down on other drug use as well. |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:17 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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Look at all the stoners up in here.
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:20 pm |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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You want to come over at 4:20 and burn one?  |
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I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:28 pm |
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Dave Starr
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At your work place?  |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:55 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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| Bad for productivity. But great for morale! |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:56 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| It might improve the quality of their product, too. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:59 pm |
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