Well, I read some things last night, but I don't have the links anymore. . .it seems that while there ARE some folks in jail for relatively minor drug offenses, only something like 20% or so of inmates are incarcerated for ALL drug offenses. That 20% would encompass ppl making/selling meth, crack, etc. as well as minor busts for pot. So logically, probably much less then 10% - 15% of the prison population is there because of pot. If we were to relax the puritanical laws in that area, we could make some inroads, but there's still a long way to go if we're going to make a dent in this. Fines and community service for amounts of pot that could be harvested from a single plant sounds reasonable to me. I'm not knowledgeable about such things, never having tried pot, but I think a fairly large weight is possible from a big plant, so that change alone might generate more money in fines, and save a BUNDLE on the cost to incarcerate offenders, while keeping relatively harmless, somewhat productive members of society on the street.
How many current prisoners were not born in America? Is there a failure there to integrate into our society, and if so, what can be done? Better education? Deportation?
Over 50% of prisoners are there because of violent crime (according to those magic links that I no longer have 🙂 Just go with it, and I'll be open to correction if someone finds I'm incorrect). Are we not doing all we can to educate ppl on proper behavior, and the ultimate outcome of poor behavior and/or impulse control? Are we now imprisoning ppl who, 20-30 years ago would be in mental institutions, (hopefully) properly treated and kept from getting into trouble? I don't know if some of you younger guys know this, but in the mid-late 70's a lot of mental institutions were eliminated and ppl who were once found to be incapable of being on their own were put on the streets. This sort of mainstreaming continues today. Perhaps a small percentage of our population will ALWAYS be incapable of living unsupervised without causing trouble for others, and perhaps this percentage is higher than that currently under medical care.
As for the abnormally large percentage of African Americans in jail, I'm gonna go ahead and place SOME of the blame on their subculture. Many African-Americans know this - other ppl have droned on about this endlessly, some sounding reasonable, and others sounding like they'd be more comfortable wearing a hood. The facts are this: there is a portion of the Rap music culture that glorifies behavior that will often put one on the wrong side of the law. CLEARLY, not everyone accepts this as normal behavior, but perhaps enough do that their subsequent actions put them at risk for jail.
I hesitate to put such opinions on teh Intertubes, here for search engines to dig up for the rest of recorded history, but I grew up in government-subsidized housing: The projects. I've seen value placed on flashy, expensive jewelery, loud stereos, and fancy cars/clothes - by residents of government-subsidized housing. Those values are clearly misplaced, particularly in that setting. Since Rap came along and supported the previous misplaced values and added violence, misogyny, and drug use to the equation, it seems to me that's a whole lot of bad influence if parents, schools, and the community aren't there to explain why it might be fun to listen to, but not to live.
Maybe we need a decent educational push in this area. Commercials by respected African-American actors, directors, musicians & athletes might help, but the teaching and adoption of basic morals and values start at home. Of course, the influence of Rap is not particularly limited to African-Americans, but I'm just trying to figure out why such a large segment of that population is in jail. Racial profiling by the police might be an influence here, but you would think if you weren't doing anything wrong, you would not end up in jail because of a random stop. . .at least not very often.
I figure the prison population issue is a problem with many causes. It should be noted that England is having it's own prison issues, so it is not an issue uniquely our own.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7258725.stmAlso to consider, is it REALLY so contradictory to have the highest imprisoned population in the world in a country that is billed as, "The home of the free"? We have many laws designed to keep others from encroaching on our freedoms. Sure, it SOUNDS like a crazy, Bizzarro-world contradiction, but given that we don't tolerate ppl messing with other ppl, and that we are reasonably well-organized and skilled in capturing ppl who do, I suppose this is one outcome that is to be expected.