Privatization of Prisons, Probation, and Police

[StPaulHusker]

 

 

The conversation about prisons obviously has to start with sentencing. America is an idiotic country when it comes to what we think of as 'crime,' particularly 'crimes' that involve someone sitting on their couch with a needle in their arm dead to the world or handing off an eighth of weed to their roommate (drug trafficking).

from my experience, a lot of people that get in trouble for drugs are also suffering from a mental health issue. so it is a mental health issue as much, if not more, than a criminal issue.

 

So, how do we solve the mental health issue?

 

drugs

[carlfense]

So, how do we solve the mental health issue?

It's not so much a matter of solving it . . . but it can be addressed. The only problem is that it takes funding. A lot of those facilities and programs ended/closed in 1980.

[sd'sker]

So, how do we solve the mental health issue?

not sure. but i think some of the resources going to imprisoning those people should go to treatment. drug courts are also a good idea.

[zoogs]

So, how do we solve the mental health issue?

I find the mental health angle to be a distraction argument -- the idea that all these problems are caused by a special set of "problem people" distinct from the rest of us. First, they're just people. By and large, we are all products of our society. And second, the extremely outside-the-lines criminals have always existed and will always exist. Sure, there are efforts to address mental health and I support all of that. However, this argument tends to be a classification issue -- that is, "____ shouldn't be up for discussion in our society, it's just those mental health support systems that aren't working well enough." If only.

 

For example, guns. We try to label every mass killer (which, do they even comprise the majority of gun violence issues in this country?) as psychotically deranged after the fact, rather than treat it as "if people have this kind of access to this kind of technology, a small percentage of them us will end up doing this." Then we can say, maybe it's an inevitable pill society has to swallow. Maybe access restriction would change things (a study of other countries would help). Maybe the loss of freedom would be too much to bear, or maybe some of the existing restrictions just need to be modified here and there.

 

Also, what the "mental health" issues argument often leads to is stuff like "society would be better without all this crazy media these days" and efforts at media censorship (such as for violent video games), which, IMO, is counterproductive especially the harsher it is.

 

Lastly, what X originally said here was spot on, in my opinion. As John Oliver said, "On the one hand, the war on drugs has completely fixed America's drug problem." That's sarcasm, you guys. Cracking down on meth or cocaine or heroin is one thing. With marijuana, a staggering number of people are being classified as criminals simply because we choose to, while, most strikingly, drunkards or heavy cigarette smokers are not. And of course, people use marijuana anyway. The effort and money spent on that particular front of the war just to lock people up, stain their records and inhibit their future productivity potential is the only criminal thing about marijuana today.