Quote (AiNedeSpelCzech @ Mar 12 2010 03:01pm)
Decriminalization is just the tip of the iceberg.
I think that the rehabilitation thing is a huge step forward. We also need to be more strict as far as locking down on illegal activities in prison - getting raped daily is going to do nothing to make someone a productive member of society and will simply leave them scarred, broken and traumatized.
Hire armies of counselors for prisoners to speak with and really learn how to get their heads into a better space, see how their actions were wrong, and work toward a healthy manner of self-expression. Combined with job training so that they can walk out and right into the beginnings of a career, that should slash the recidivism rate significantly.
But yeah - reforming the laws so that it's only the real criminals rather than a dude who happened to have an ounce of weed on him would probably be pretty cool too. Bring the laws against crack down to the same level as laws against Cocaine, and generally clean up drug laws and other victimless crimes.
Ah, but the split side to this, of course, is that there are plenty of law-abiding folk who could stand to benefit from various rehabilitation, why should they be denied the opportunity when it is afforded to criminals and the like? Quote (WidowMaKer_MK @ Mar 12 2010 03:59pm)
I think it's time we started handing out life sentences with no parole for violent gang activity and drastically increase the penalties for the gang related drug industry . We also have to come up with a method for eliminating gang affiliation in the prisons , probably by segregation .
It will cost money but we need many more Super-Max prisons .
The 700 Billion we handed over to Wall Street criminals would have been better spend reforming the way we deal with crime nationwide, perhaps.This post was edited by FriedrichNietzsche on Mar 12 2010 12:10pm