That comment would be applicable if you were studying the American prison system. The mere fact that we incarcerate 756 people per every 100,000 residents (1) in the United States tells people that we have got to be one of the most evil societies ever, right? Wrong.
We're not an evil society, in fact, we're probably one of the least violent. Most of our incarceration rates are for petty offenses and things like drug possession. Ever since we started with the three strikes law and the war on drugs the incarceration rates have soared to astronomical levels. It was when we added the truth-in-sentencing laws that some of our now older inmates were forced to remain in prison since the law passed was to make sure that you served most of your sentence. There's half of me that rejoices when I hear that since so many people don't serve half of their sentences but when I look at the sheer numbers of those in prison I'm flabbergasted that something hasn't been done yet.
Overcrowding, a major problem now. Inmates are stacked in bunk-beds in the main rooms of prisons because there is just no more space. Where there was only supposed to be two inmates there could be now three or four to a cell. Prison's are overcrowded and understaffed; who wants to make a career out of serving for the scum of the earth? Cynical and biased, many of the correctional staff don't even go to college - a good majority of them are just highschool educated, much like the prisoner's they watch out for.
What does this mean for the prison system? Not the most fluid of systems out there. The fact that there are 2.3 billion, yes I said billion, people in the jail system should scream "Hey! We're doing something wrong here!" but no one gives it a second look; why should we? They did commit crimes, after all, broke the law, they're horrible people! Murderers! Rapists! Drug offenders! But take a walk on the wild side, imagine that one of those people is your relative. "Well, I sure as hell wouldn't spend time with that relative again!" Really? You could disown blood that easily? What about the mother's, the father's, the son's, the daughter's? All waiting and still loving their family members even if they're in prison.
But if we take a closer look at the prison system we'll find that not all the prisoner's in there happen to be murderers and rapists. No, a good number of them are in there because of the War On Drugs Act that was started in 1914 (2) and continued to be revised until 1988 when the final bill was put in place. After that bill was enacted, federal prison populations jumped to 177% (3). That was only the beginning.
President Clinton signed a bill in 1994 which gave 7.9 billion dollars in grants to build prisons and to eliminate parole for drug dealers (4) which further increased the population. Parole was to be a secondary punishment for prisoners and once parole was taken away they were merely stock piled in prison until they finished out their sentences which only exacerbated the problems in prison. It was Bill Clinton who enacted the Truth In Sentencing which would only give money to states that would limit their good time granted to inmates (5). But after all is said and done is there any concrete evidence that drug use has been limited or eliminated? Where are the numbers to say that drugs have begun to vanish from the streets? Maybe they have only because of the fact that the drugs are now in prison - with the rest of the population.
American not only has 2.3 million people in its prison system but there is a general number of 5 million in some kind of correctional custody in the United States. This means probation, parole, house arrest and other sanctions. (6). That means that one out of ever 31 adults is being supervised by the justice system. No wonder people think that we're absolutely deplorable.
When we're putting all this money in the battle and war against drugs we're missing the fact that something dangerous is creeping into the US: Gangs. The large majority comes from our Mexican fellows to the south (heard of MS-13? One of the most vicious gangs around, even worse than the Crypts and Bloods.) and has been smuggling drugs into the country at a rate of 25 million a year (7). And what else does this mean? Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of the world, only behind Mexico City. A whopping 370 cases in 2008 alone (8). When we're spending all our time on drug issues and making sure that people who possess only the amount for themselves go to jail and get hard time and those people who commit petty theft go to jail for life after their third offense we turn a blind eye to the explosion of kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona? Somehow I think that's a bit disproportional, considering that these people are nothing more than petty thieves. Yes, I believe that they should have known better, they should have stopped but its small crimes, they're not really "hurting" anyone other than themselves, and yet they go to jail for life? I can understand the desire to get tougher on crime but the more I think about it the more I wonder why. Why not go after the gangs instead of turning a blind eye?
I know where I live the residents still refuse to acknowledge that we have a gang problem. I see the graffiti and people continue to deny it. They want to still believe that where we live is still that safe, quaint little town that it always was but the times, they are a'changin'. To quote the legendary Bob Dylan.
The question is what are we doing here in America? Incarcerating people for three-strikes laws for petty crimes and people who are charged with possession, that's what. Locking people up for nonviolent crimes and throwing away the proverbial key, letting them simply rot in prison, stuff the prison full to bursting and say its okay. To have the highest rate in the world for incarceration. We're supposed to be known as "America: Home of the American Dream". Lately, we've become known as: "America: Home of the Highest Incarceration Rate". Do we want that label? How about doing something to change that? Perhaps changing some laws, perhaps not being as harsh. Perhaps... Perhaps being a different society, change the perspective a bit, start looking at people who commit violent offenses rather than nonviolent offenses. Lets stop ignoring the growing gang population, protect the citizens in Arizona. Lets do something different because apparently something isn't working right now.
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(1) "Our Prisons by Senator Jim Webb" in PARADE Magazine
(2) - (5) "Prisons and Prison Life" by Joycelyn M. Pollock - pages 29, 33 , 35 & 36
(6) - (8) "Our Prisons by Senator Jim Webb" in PARADE Magazine
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Boom-boom.
No, not as in shooting, boom-boom as in the word that a Thai man used to ask a friend of mine to spend money spending time with one of the young and underaged sex slave he had procured by some means.
An epidemic, a horrible sight, young girls, no more than 15 or 16 years old, near the oldest, standing in next to nothing and beckoning for men who are twice or three times their age to come pay to use them for one night and toss them to the side. Like everyone else in their lives have done, the men who came and went, their pimps and their mother's and father's who sold them simply to pay whatever debts they had and never looked back. I don't know quite what's worse, that a parent would sell their child into a life of sex slavery or the people who allow themselves to sleep with a child or, perhaps, the police officers who turn a blind eye and go about their business, understaffed, underpaid and corrupt.
My friend went on an expedition to Australia, something he had planned for quite a few years, saved up for and finally getting to go, he traveled through Australia and headed to Bangkok roughly two days ago, part of his itinerary. While he was walking through the streets he was approached by a Thai man named "Joe", as he had said, who was trying to get my friend to go get a massage from one of his parlors. My friend, Phil, kept saying no, trying to shake Joe off and go about his business. It kept on until Joe used the trade mark words "boom-boom". Those words, essentially, mean sex. Its a code-word even though everyone else in the world knows it, they apparently think that it'll help them get customers. I'm quite sure my friend was feeling horrified at that thought as he kept saying no and finally managed to shake Joe. But how many Americans go over there and don't say no?
Last semester I watched a video with my CSI class about human trafficking and saw all the horrific images of kids who were younger than me, about the same age as my seven year old cousin, sitting in a makeshift room and being bartered for their sex. Girls who were still virgins went for higher, even boys were used as sex slaves. These kids were sold into slavery by their parents who needed the money to pay off whatever debt they had accrued. The sad part about this is that they claim to love their children; who loves their children enough to sell them as sex slaves? Or to even sell their children?
Its quite obvious, to me, that they don't love their children like we in America do. We value children, so much so that we've set up guidelines and rules to make sure that we're protecting our children and keeping them from being exploited like the children in Bangkok and other places like that. All those laws against having sex with minors, statutory rape, they all keep people here in line, that's the theory, anyhow. I know there are men and women here who don't think twice about these rules and just go after whomever they want but if they're caught they're jailed. People like Joe don't get jailed because the cops are paid off, the cops don't care and they'll even visit these brothels themselves. Its absolutely rampant in Bangkok.
In that video we watched it followed a doctor who had gone over to Thailand for "vacation" and had intended on seeing these children. The undercover investigator talked to him and managed to get him to tell him why he was there. I felt sickened when he mentioned he was there to see girls who were 13 years old. Not younger, apparently, but there are girls and boys there that are as young as five years old. Even a 13 year old; they have to see things that I couldn't have even thought of when I was that old. When I was 13, and I imagine a number of you, I was out playing and still thought boys were icky. These 13 year olds have to open their bodies to any man or woman who decides to walk through the doors and perform acts that are unheard of all because of money.
Another problem is that the Asian culture doesn't look down on having sex with children, with teens or even prepubescent teens like we do. They don't see it as a bad thing, they probably never will, which makes it even more difficult to stop these children from being sold like this. Sadly, I don't think it'll ever stop. Its absolutely heart-wrenching to look at those faces and see there is no light in their eyes, its all been snuffed out the minute they were broken and used for sex. And if they are caught? The sentence is sorely lacking. One man was only in prison for three years for committing "obscene acts with girls ages 10 and 11 at his rented seaside villa in southern Vietnam" (1).
A Bangkok official said this "This case sends a strong message to child sex offenders around the world that society will not tolerate any form of sexual violence and exploitation of children," (2). But does it really? If this is still running rampant, how could it be that they are supposedly cracking down on things like this? I don't think that statement holds water, especially when people are only spending three years in jail for doing something to a 10 or 11 year old. Why only three years? How about a life time? Or just chuck them overboard with cement shoes? That works just as well for me, those children who have to live a lifetime dealing with this, they can't get out of it once they're in there because what kind of life would they have afterward? Always remembering those days and feeling like they can't get away from it. Take molestation victims now. Even if its been years, and I'm talking about 20 some odd years, it still comes back and it'll haunt them, it'll tear them apart inside.
Another man was deported back to American soil after spending only a year in prison in Thailand for molesting 15 and 16 year old boys. (3) What's even more horrific is that he paid only five dollars to ruin their innocence even further. There is no good price to pay for ruining innocence, mind you, but that's an even bigger kick in the groin. You can pay next to nothing to ruin these children.
Unfortunately there is next to nothing that we can do about it unless we can somehow change their minds to seeing that children should be valued in a society rather than sold as objects and used a profit. And while sex trafficking is horrible all around, I feel that the majority of people are even more horrified at children being trafficked to be used for such deplorable acts. Something needs to be done to stop these children from being prostituted, anything. As much as I would love to say simply kill all those who engage in this grotesque activity that isn't possible. I just wish I had the magic solution - the switch to make it all stop.
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(1), (2) and (3) from: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208800,00.html
An epidemic, a horrible sight, young girls, no more than 15 or 16 years old, near the oldest, standing in next to nothing and beckoning for men who are twice or three times their age to come pay to use them for one night and toss them to the side. Like everyone else in their lives have done, the men who came and went, their pimps and their mother's and father's who sold them simply to pay whatever debts they had and never looked back. I don't know quite what's worse, that a parent would sell their child into a life of sex slavery or the people who allow themselves to sleep with a child or, perhaps, the police officers who turn a blind eye and go about their business, understaffed, underpaid and corrupt.
My friend went on an expedition to Australia, something he had planned for quite a few years, saved up for and finally getting to go, he traveled through Australia and headed to Bangkok roughly two days ago, part of his itinerary. While he was walking through the streets he was approached by a Thai man named "Joe", as he had said, who was trying to get my friend to go get a massage from one of his parlors. My friend, Phil, kept saying no, trying to shake Joe off and go about his business. It kept on until Joe used the trade mark words "boom-boom". Those words, essentially, mean sex. Its a code-word even though everyone else in the world knows it, they apparently think that it'll help them get customers. I'm quite sure my friend was feeling horrified at that thought as he kept saying no and finally managed to shake Joe. But how many Americans go over there and don't say no?
Last semester I watched a video with my CSI class about human trafficking and saw all the horrific images of kids who were younger than me, about the same age as my seven year old cousin, sitting in a makeshift room and being bartered for their sex. Girls who were still virgins went for higher, even boys were used as sex slaves. These kids were sold into slavery by their parents who needed the money to pay off whatever debt they had accrued. The sad part about this is that they claim to love their children; who loves their children enough to sell them as sex slaves? Or to even sell their children?
Its quite obvious, to me, that they don't love their children like we in America do. We value children, so much so that we've set up guidelines and rules to make sure that we're protecting our children and keeping them from being exploited like the children in Bangkok and other places like that. All those laws against having sex with minors, statutory rape, they all keep people here in line, that's the theory, anyhow. I know there are men and women here who don't think twice about these rules and just go after whomever they want but if they're caught they're jailed. People like Joe don't get jailed because the cops are paid off, the cops don't care and they'll even visit these brothels themselves. Its absolutely rampant in Bangkok.
In that video we watched it followed a doctor who had gone over to Thailand for "vacation" and had intended on seeing these children. The undercover investigator talked to him and managed to get him to tell him why he was there. I felt sickened when he mentioned he was there to see girls who were 13 years old. Not younger, apparently, but there are girls and boys there that are as young as five years old. Even a 13 year old; they have to see things that I couldn't have even thought of when I was that old. When I was 13, and I imagine a number of you, I was out playing and still thought boys were icky. These 13 year olds have to open their bodies to any man or woman who decides to walk through the doors and perform acts that are unheard of all because of money.
Another problem is that the Asian culture doesn't look down on having sex with children, with teens or even prepubescent teens like we do. They don't see it as a bad thing, they probably never will, which makes it even more difficult to stop these children from being sold like this. Sadly, I don't think it'll ever stop. Its absolutely heart-wrenching to look at those faces and see there is no light in their eyes, its all been snuffed out the minute they were broken and used for sex. And if they are caught? The sentence is sorely lacking. One man was only in prison for three years for committing "obscene acts with girls ages 10 and 11 at his rented seaside villa in southern Vietnam" (1).
A Bangkok official said this "This case sends a strong message to child sex offenders around the world that society will not tolerate any form of sexual violence and exploitation of children," (2). But does it really? If this is still running rampant, how could it be that they are supposedly cracking down on things like this? I don't think that statement holds water, especially when people are only spending three years in jail for doing something to a 10 or 11 year old. Why only three years? How about a life time? Or just chuck them overboard with cement shoes? That works just as well for me, those children who have to live a lifetime dealing with this, they can't get out of it once they're in there because what kind of life would they have afterward? Always remembering those days and feeling like they can't get away from it. Take molestation victims now. Even if its been years, and I'm talking about 20 some odd years, it still comes back and it'll haunt them, it'll tear them apart inside.
Another man was deported back to American soil after spending only a year in prison in Thailand for molesting 15 and 16 year old boys. (3) What's even more horrific is that he paid only five dollars to ruin their innocence even further. There is no good price to pay for ruining innocence, mind you, but that's an even bigger kick in the groin. You can pay next to nothing to ruin these children.
Unfortunately there is next to nothing that we can do about it unless we can somehow change their minds to seeing that children should be valued in a society rather than sold as objects and used a profit. And while sex trafficking is horrible all around, I feel that the majority of people are even more horrified at children being trafficked to be used for such deplorable acts. Something needs to be done to stop these children from being prostituted, anything. As much as I would love to say simply kill all those who engage in this grotesque activity that isn't possible. I just wish I had the magic solution - the switch to make it all stop.
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(1), (2) and (3) from: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208800,00.html
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Starting out
This is a relatively new idea that I was thinking about on my way home. I was sitting in Social Ethics while we were talking about Euthanasia and thought to myself, "It'd be great to have a blog about Criminal Justice and the issues surrounding it". But I didn't even know if it would be read, much less if I could come up with enough ideas to keep it running. The last blog I tried to start pretty much died before I could even bring it to something that was well known, considering I also don't like to talk about myself. So, that idea was pretty much scrapped around the first of this year and I decided, today, that I was going to do something like this. Talk about the issues, concerns and other things riding on the Criminal Justice situation. More like I'm going to be offering my opinions and other things regarding this as well.
I'll be keeping up to date with things that are happening, pick apart certain aspects of the justice system as I learn about them and offer my own opinions and thoughts. My readers are encouraged to offer their own thoughts as well. I'll be responding to comments and the like so I'll be keeping this open for anyone to comment on it. I also thought it would be a fun way to become more engaged about my choice of study and for my fellow classmates to read as well. Frankly, I think this is a good idea all around. I'm hoping that it'll hit off well and that I'll get plenty of readers.
Here's the warm welcome to Criminal Justice for Thought!
I'll be keeping up to date with things that are happening, pick apart certain aspects of the justice system as I learn about them and offer my own opinions and thoughts. My readers are encouraged to offer their own thoughts as well. I'll be responding to comments and the like so I'll be keeping this open for anyone to comment on it. I also thought it would be a fun way to become more engaged about my choice of study and for my fellow classmates to read as well. Frankly, I think this is a good idea all around. I'm hoping that it'll hit off well and that I'll get plenty of readers.
Here's the warm welcome to Criminal Justice for Thought!
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