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Qublai Qhan posted:I could always be wrong here, but I'm almost positive that mandatory convict labor is non-existent in the US. It's true that convicts are not paid particularly well for optional labor, and maybe there are reasons to pay better, but I think comparing it to slavery is probably going several steps too far. It seems a pretty fair comparison considering that abolition was specifically never granted to convicts. Consider that even for paid labor, convicts can be punished for refusing to cooperate.
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Jul 27, 2010 15:52
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Farking Bastage posted:Certain areas are now making it an arrest-able offense to videotape police. In Massachusetts you can be arrested for videotaping police because the audio portion of the recording constitutes surreptitious eavesdropping without consent. While technically accurate, it is a ridiculous stretch of the law and it is only ever used to prosecute civilians taping the police.
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Jul 30, 2010 21:15
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HidingFromGoro posted:Don't forget all those inmates increase the clout of local politicians, since they get counted as (nonvoting) constituents via the scheme known as prison gerrymandering. Wow, this is literally worse than the three-fifths compromise.
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Aug 3, 2010 21:32
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VoidAltoid posted:I'm hoping someone, somewhere will be able to take a corrupt DA and all the hired police goons who wrongfully put them in prison to a criminal trial, and have them convicted and sentenced to an equal amount of time without a possibility of parol. Maybe then we'd see something closer to real justice instead of simply trying to be "tough on crime" and convict every single person no matter how much the evidence points otherwise. Aren't DAs basically immune from prosecutorial misconduct charges unless it can be proved they acted with deliberate malice?
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Oct 29, 2010 23:41
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I for one, sir, can assure you that I am a man of quality, and if you should doubt me, I would kindly ask you to direct your enquires on the matter in a despatch to Messrs. P—— & N——, as they will readily vouch for my good standing. As such, I would implore you consider that the fine laws of this land are set forth not by Providence nor by the inerrant will of the body politic—nor indeed even by the unmottled virtue of those entrusted to see to the furtherance of the general welfare; nay, at times the laws reflect motives and sentiments akin to the spokes of the wheels on a carriage rattled too oft by traversal across dilapidated roads: being deformed to varying degrees, but never wholly true, though one might not gather was much barring close inspection so long as said spokes remain at least unbroken, carrying out their function though perhaps increasing the onus on beleaguered animals who know nothing of circumferences nor why their burden should feel greater without additional weight. When a man complains that the he is unfairly slowed by the wobble of the wheel of his destiny, I urge you, do not be so quick to assume he curses all wheelwrights, but do not assume all wheelwrights are immaculate in their works by the some token.
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Nov 7, 2010 07:07
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baquerd posted:I don't think that phrase means what you think it means. We've only got the political corruption, none of the good aspects. I think he meant "Gelded Age"
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Jan 27, 2011 22:35
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Alhazred posted:Reminder: You can leave your college dorm room anytime you want. It is kind of funny when people complain about how prison is too nice: do they not think freedom is really worth anything if freedom is no big deal compared to living conditions?
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May 30, 2011 03:58
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Fatkraken posted:You should be able to vote if you're IN prison. You should be able to, but it's too easy to imagine prisons implementing not-so-secret ballots.
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Oct 18, 2011 11:40
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Ratoslov posted:The point of playing karma games after-the-fact is in order to avoid discussing fixing things. Indeed, in a certain sense, being tough on crime and tough on criminals are opposite goals, since if being tough on criminals is a priority and a sign of justice, a steady supply of criminals and therefore crime is desirable, and reducing crime drastically would be a bad thing because it would rob society of countless opportunities for punishment, thereby reducing the amount of justice.
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Jul 8, 2012 07:29
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EvanSchenck posted:Actually he's probably right, because trying to organize a justice system by appealing to the horse sense of the general public is stupid and results in a race to the bottom pursuing ever more severe punishments. The effort to appeal to voters by being tough on crime is a big part of why the American system is so totally hosed up. I think three strikes laws, which people were just discussing, are the best example of something that's good politics but ridiculously bad policy. Isn't popular opinion on the death penalty in Europe generally around 50% anyway? I've read this in a bunch of places before and a quick search shows that in the UK support for the death penalty does hover around 50%.
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Jul 17, 2012 02:23
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Kugyou no Tenshi posted:How many incidents would you say occur each year in which police have to deal with someone who possesses an automatic weapon? Just curious, since it's the linchpin of your argument there. An increase in police armaments was in part a response to incidents such as the North Hollywood bank robbery, but I have a really, really, really hard time believe that on balance the proliferation of military weapons and tactics among parts of the police has saved rather than cost lives (even counting only the lives of people innocent of crime (even counting only the lives of people not even intentionally accused of crime)) on balance.
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Aug 21, 2012 09:58
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PT6A posted:You don't think fraud and financial crimes should be criminal matters? The fact that the American prison system is lovely shouldn't dictate what we see as criminal and not criminal -- that should be decided on its own merits. I think the sentiment is more that custodial sentences should be reserved for those who seriously harm others.
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Aug 29, 2012 07:09
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:The Feds have completed their investigation of Arpaio and will not file charges. They aren't filing charges with regards to his abuse of powers to cow his political opponents, but he is still being investigated by the Feds for civil rights abuses.
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Sep 2, 2012 04:00
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s0meb0dy0 posted:Anglachel, I appreciate your comments and understand that you are technically correct. However, you're basically saying that a felon who is well educated in their options, is motivated, only deals with honest people looking to help them, and has the time/money to take advantage of the opportunities can eventually work their way out of the system. If anything, it makes sense that ex-felons need more help making good choices than the rest of us, given how precarious their position in society is. If anything they should be given more leeway than some upstanding citizen who is not one or two minor slip-ups away from being excommunicated from having the opportunity to ever be a productive law-abiding person. Being tough on criminals is effectively being soft on crime, since by choosing to create a permanent underclass, you are electing to accept that there will be higher crime rates.
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Jun 7, 2013 22:06
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PT6A posted:I think, no matter how they're tried, they serve their sentences up to a certain age in a juvenile facility, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm pretty sure, though, that being tried as adults means that they would have permanent felony convictions on their record. I know that in some states if not states, children convicted as adults are sent to normal prisons, and when these prisons lack adequate protective custody arrangements (which pretty much all of them do due to overcrowding), they just put the kids into solitary confinement.
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Jun 9, 2013 22:54
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His Purple Majesty posted:They lost that privilege when they break societys laws willingly. The rhetoric of genocide is probably not so good for criminal justice.
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Jan 6, 2015 21:52
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nm posted:Back in the 60s or so when being gay was still basically illegal, gay men would plea to indecent exposure to avoid charges that showed they were gay and registration. Then the legislature legalized gay sex, struck all people having consentual sex off the registry, but made anyone convicted of indecent exposure register. Whooops. It's not ex post facto if it's a non-punitive measure! This actually kind of reminds me of the Chinese system of Rehabilitation Through Labor, where you can be compelled into forced labor without criminal proceedings because it is likewise not a punitive measure.
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Sep 9, 2015 06:48
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