A first: More than one of every 100 US adults is in prison.

atoz

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report.

San Quentin State Prison in California holds more than 5,200 inmates.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 -- one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/28/prison.population.ap/index.html

With the Love that sets us free even when imprisoned,
atoz
_________________
"The person who discovered The Law of Love
was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists."
MKGANDHI
“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”
Albert Einstein
“Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.”
William Shakespeare, 12th Night

lone-traveler · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject:

I could say a lot about that, but I'll be good and just say..
what a shame..
hugs atoz
lone

Pondering · King of the Jungle Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 1509

atoz · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:43 am Post subject:

Plotinus · Big Lion Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Canada

The figures are tragic. From the article:

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

Three things occur to me.

1. The very high figures for black males points to the role of social conditions in crime. If you are poor, and living in an area where crime is rampant, it is hard to stay out of the problems yourself. Fighting crime means fighting poverty.

2. There needs to be one justice system for all. Poor people need to have adequate representation in court.

3. A lot of incarceration policies have been introduced because they are politically popular. Three strikes and you're out. Get tough on crime measures. Putting nonviolent people behind bars -- and a large proportion are nonviolent -- strains the system and has little to recommend it as a way of curbing crime.
_________________
One would never discover the limits of soul, should one traverse every road -- so deep a measure does it possess.

Heraclitus, fragment 45, quoted in Diogenes Laertius 9.7.

wilber · Banned Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 581

It seems to be (here in the uk at least) that the justice system is concerned with the criminal - punishment/deterent/retribution/rehabilitation(haha) etc. and the victim is totally ignored.

Doesn't the Bible steer more towards the victim? i.e. recompence - the debt being paid (fourfold) etc. rather than retribution?

As for the inequities that can lead people into crime - this too should be dealt with.

wilber

Plotinus · Big Lion Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Canada

The fact that the victim is ignored -- victim impact statements are not the point -- follows from the combined heritage of jurisprudence that the UK, the US and Canada have.

In the early middle ages, if one person killed another it was just a dispute between concerned parties, and nobody's business except the families concerned, except if the killing was done in secret or was particularly heinous. Legal proceedings were attempts to balance the interests of the concerned parties. Obviously barons did better than serfs in such disputes. Then a clever legal trick was introduced. If one person injured another in some manner, the legal fiction was introduced that the King was the victim. This clever trick meant that everybody was a concerned party in the crime. But the only trouble with this is the legacy we have today. The original victim has been forgotten.

We should also keep in mind that the number of victims of a crime is much larger than we often admit. As well as the injured party and the relatives of the victim (who are usually mentioned these days) there are also the relatives of the person who committed the crime. If a man goes to gaol for a crime, his children are valid victims of the act. Finally there is the criminal him or herself. He or she is a victim of his or her own behaviour.
_________________
One would never discover the limits of soul, should one traverse every road -- so deep a measure does it possess.

Heraclitus, fragment 45, quoted in Diogenes Laertius 9.7.

atoz · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:38 am Post subject:

Plo!

To me, only 3 little words need to be added to your analysis:

Fighting crime is fighting THE poverty OF LOVE.

To me, the poverty of Love is or equals or means the richness of Hate.Mt 24:13.

One guess as to who are the numero uno victims of poor black criminals: other poor blacks!
Black on Black crime.
BOB crime.

Why?

Simply because, since to be rich is to be less poor than poor, any poor black who is marginally less poor than any poor criminal is RICH,and so will get robbed!
See Exodus for Hebrew on Hebrew:HOH crime, and what happened to Moses when he tried to stop HOH crime before stopping the Hatred on people crime:HOP, or Hatred on words crime:HOW crime.

So to me, fighting the poverty of money is a total waste UNLESS it is preceded by and accompanied by the more important fight against Hatred for myself as poor!

Then with that pre-analysis on the use of Love, we wd find out that there can be NO reduction in monetary poverty nor any other type of poverty! Why? Simply because of the ontology of words as above which describe every real condition in life.

Example:
If every poor person now had a million dollars, the guy who had 999,999,999.99 dollars wd be the first poor man!---who in hate of being poor is on his way to a life of crime or misery!
This is why JC said: The poor we will always have with us.

So to me, the poverty we shd be fighting is the Poverty of Love: POL. It is that POL that leads to crime: the poverty of money,: POM, is NOT the poverty that leads to crime: it is only A or ONE symptom that when hated leads to crime, just as Gordon Gekko's Hate of poverty led him, AS RICH AS HE WAS, to crime and more crime. So neither the poverty of riches nor the riches of riches lead to crime. Only the poverty of Love or the riches of Hatred lead to crime.

What do you think?

With the Riches of Love and with the Poverty of Hate which makes it as easy for both the poor man in Love of poverty and the richman in Love of poverty to enter heaven on earth or heaven in heaven, and
which makes it as impossible for both the poor man in Hate of poverty and for the rich man in Hate of poverty to enter heaven on earth or heaven in heaven,
Atoz
_________________
"The person who discovered The Law of Love
was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists."
MKGANDHI
“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”
Albert Einstein
“Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.”
William Shakespeare, 12th Night

Plotinus · Big Lion Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Canada

wilber · Banned Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 581

Thank you for your knowledgeable reply Plotinus.
Atoz - too true - and you've reminded me of Jesus' tale of people being hired late into the day and still getting the same pay as others. This brought hatred out even though there was no monetery poverty.

wilber

lone-traveler · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:59 am Post subject:

atoz · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:03 am Post subject:

Plotinus · Big Lion Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Canada

atoz · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:25 am Post subject:

atoz · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:53 am Post subject: