Politicians who do not agree on much else, agree that the nation’s broken criminal justice system needs to be fixed. A bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill recently that would establish a blue-ribbon commission to study the issues and propose solutions.

The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world. Prisons and jails are filled to bursting with nonviolent offenders. There are a wide array of approaches, including drug treatment programs and prisoner re-entry projects, that could bring these numbers down, save taxpayers’ dollars and give prisoners a real chance to get their lives back on track.

Some of the resources being wasted on incarcerating minor law-breakers should be redirected to more serious threats to public safety, including violent gangs. Some of the money should be put back into badly overburdened federal, state and local budgets.

A commission of respected criminal justice experts would examine these problems and come up with an action blueprint. That could overcome the inertia in Congress and state legislatures.

When Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, proposed creating such a commission, his idea quickly attracted wide support. It is a rare cause in Washington that has the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the A.C.L.U. and the Marijuana Policy Project.

Senator Webb’s bill passed the Judiciary Committee in January, and he has been pushing for a vote from the full Senate. The House bill closely tracks his.

Given the current fiscal pressures and rare bipartisan agreement, there is a real chance to address the criminal justice system’s very serious problems. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should seize the moment and move these bills quickly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10mon3.html

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

Vince(1) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Politicians who do not agree on much else, agree
> that the nation’s broken criminal justice system
> needs to be fixed. A bipartisan group of House
> members introduced a bill recently that would
> establish a blue-ribbon commission to study the
> issues and propose solutions.
>

Can't we go with a red-ribbon or yellow-ribbon commission this time?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/13-11.htm

Vince(1) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Politicians who do not agree on much else, agree
> that the nation’s broken criminal justice system
> needs to be fixed. A bipartisan group of House
> members introduced a bill recently that would
> establish a blue-ribbon commission to study the
> issues and propose solutions.
>
> The United States has the highest reported
> incarceration rate in the world. Prisons and jails
> are filled to bursting with nonviolent offenders.
> There are a wide array of approaches, including
> drug treatment programs and prisoner re-entry
> projects, that could bring these numbers down,
> save taxpayers’ dollars and give prisoners a real
> chance to get their lives back on track.
>
> Some of the resources being wasted on
> incarcerating minor law-breakers should be
> redirected to more serious threats to public
> safety, including violent gangs. Some of the money
> should be put back into badly overburdened
> federal, state and local budgets.
>
> A commission of respected criminal justice experts
> would examine these problems and come up with an
> action blueprint. That could overcome the inertia
> in Congress and state legislatures.
>
> When Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia,
> proposed creating such a commission, his idea
> quickly attracted wide support. It is a rare cause
> in Washington that has the backing of the
> Fraternal Order of Police, the International
> Association of Chiefs of Police, the A.C.L.U. and
> the Marijuana Policy Project.
>
> Senator Webb’s bill passed the Judiciary Committee
> in January, and he has been pushing for a vote
> from the full Senate. The House bill closely
> tracks his.
>
> Given the current fiscal pressures and rare
> bipartisan agreement, there is a real chance to
> address the criminal justice system’s very serious
> problems. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid,
> and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should seize the
> moment and move these bills quickly.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10mon3.h
> tml


Your motive is all too clear

I don't know why druggies should be taken an easy upon, when everyone else has to pay for their crimes. I think that drugs are some of the worst crap around, especially when you deal them, but somehow slangers receive better treatment than forgers and those guilty of getting into a fistfight.

==================================================================================================
"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).

The War on Drugs has been an utter failure...right up there with Alocohol Prohibition. So..it's not a matter of druggies are given an easier time..it's a matter of the punishment not fitting the crime. Punishments are usually biased so that the drugs white middle class kids take are more leniently ajudicated while the black/minority drugs of choice are more severely punished.

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

The problem is the justice system catches only the small fish. When do you ever see a banker to go jail for helping the dealers launder the money. Drugs are a cash only business. They cannot get rid of all that cash, most in small denominations, without assistance.

If the justice system wanted to hit a dealer hard they would take everything from them and also anyone who assists the dealers.

It also doesnt help when a small time dealer gets twenty years in jail then you have some Wall Street mortgage scam that nets the offender five years in a tennis court federal prison, yet bilks taxpayers out of millions.

Vince(1) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Given the current fiscal pressures and rare
> bipartisan agreement, there is a real chance to
> address the criminal justice system’s very serious
> problems. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid,
> and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should seize the
> moment and move these bills quickly.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10mon3.h
> tml


Wow, a post from the pro-mj lobby. Aren't you a bit old to still be smokin' the reefer?

Another study. Great. What's changed since the last one? More druggies in prison?

Aside from trying to get some positive headlines, the net result of all this will be nothing.

Yet we keep hoping for change.

Iggie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vince(1) Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Given the current fiscal pressures and rare
> > bipartisan agreement, there is a real chance to
> > address the criminal justice system’s very
> serious
> > problems. The Senate majority leader, Harry
> Reid,
> > and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should seize the
> > moment and move these bills quickly.
> >
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10mon3.h
>
> > tml
>
>
> Wow, a post from the pro-mj lobby. Aren't you a
> bit old to still be smokin' the reefer?
>
> Another study. Great. What's changed since the
> last one? More druggies in prison?
>
> Aside from trying to get some positive headlines,
> the net result of all this will be nothing.
>
> Yet we keep hoping for change.


Hey...we elderly need our "medical" mj!

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

Vince(1) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia,
> proposed creating such a commission, his idea
> quickly attracted wide support. It is a rare cause
> in Washington that has the backing of the
> Fraternal Order of Police, the International
> Association of Chiefs of Police, the A.C.L.U. and
> the Marijuana Policy Project.
>

Contrary to the beliefs of those who advocate the legalization of marijuana, the current balanced, restrictive, and bipartisan drug policies of the United States are working reasonably well and they have contributed to reductions in the rate of marijuana use in our nation.

The rate of current, past 30-day use of marijuana by Americans aged 12 and older in 1979 was 13.2 percent. In 2008 that figure stood at 6.1 percent. This 54-percent reduction in marijuana use over that 29-year period is a major public health triumph, not a failure.

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in the U.S. and around the world. Those who support its legalization, for medical or for general use, fail to recognize that the greatest costs of marijuana are not related to its prohibition; they are the costs resulting from marijuana use itself.

There is a common misconception that the principle costs of marijuana use are those related to the criminal justice system. This is a false premise. Caulkins & Sevigny (2005) found that the percentage of people in prison for marijuana use is less than one half of one percent (0.1-0.2 percent).

An encounter with the criminal justice system through apprehension for a drug-related crime frequently can benefit the offender because the criminal justice system is often a path to treatment.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36267223

Personally I see no "success" in reducing marijuana use...in a state with a Governor with the stated goal of increasing the access to a much more dangerous intoxicant (alcohol)...this is a false goal. And oh by the way..I guess you expect a society that spends millions perhaps billions of dollars for tha last 80 years trying to irradicate its use...a society with pockets of vested interests in keeping the war on drugs going to say anything different? I don't!

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

o



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2015 07:57AM by WingNut.

Alcohol is "the" gateway drug....we should outlaw it is as well then.

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

We could speed up execution times....