Jump to content


The Republican Utopia


Recommended Posts


That lawsuit was filed in 2017 and was withdrawn based on a judge's June, 2020 decision to deny class-action status. 

 

Not sure why Ricketts sees that as a win, other than it jives with the Republican obsession of imprisoning people. 

 

As of July, 2020 Nebraska's prison system was at 150% capacity. Seems a little excessive. 

 

 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

It's not a matter of "commit less crime." Nebraska is a full percentage point lower than the national average for violent crimes. 

 

The problem comes from our mandatory minimum laws. Get rid of those and prison populations decline.

 

But then that would hinder Nebraska's plan to build a new prison using private contractors, and likely deal a blow to the people who would invest in for-profit prisons. 

 

And we wouldn't want that, would we?

  • Plus1 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Fire 1
Link to comment

I see what you are saying, and could get behind reducing mandatory minimums depending on the criminal offense, say drug use offenses, prostitution to give a couple examples. 
 

However, I get tired of seeing “non-violent” criminals get chance after chance after chance with little repercussion to them.  
 

Many Neighborhoods around mine always go through waves of car break ins and when some of the people eventually get caught, the news shows their prior offenses.  It’s crazy how many are 19-24 yr olds with 5-15 charges from different timeframes.  
 

The home B&E’s are even worse.  It’s technically a “nonviolent crime” and the criminals know this. Yet speaking from experience, the victims of the B&E have years of being afraid in their own homes afterwords.  Had to get my daughter counseling after my house was broken into at 2:00AM and we were all home.  
3 people eventually got caught at a later date Breaking into another house in the neighborhood and got next to nothing for a sentence.  
meanwhile the wife and daughter lived in fear in our own home for years after which was worse than having to replace the stolen laptops and camera/lenses. 
 

I got no problem for mandatory minimums plus some for a$$h@!es that commit that type of crime.  Just because someone wasn’t physically assaulted doesn’t mean a crime was nonviolent. 

  • Plus1 2
Link to comment

@Archy1221 I understand what you're saying and that's frustrating.  However, Nebraska is a fairly low crime state the way it is.  It's not like we are Chicago or NYC and our prisons are still way over crowded.  So, there's only two options.  Figure out how we can sentence fewer people to prison, or build more.  Building more is extremely expensive AND, housing those prisoners are extremely expensive.  As a fiscal conservative, I believe we need to be thinking hard about how we can change our sentencing so that criminals are punished, but we aren't spending so much dang money (in a low population state) on housing them.

 

On a national level, the US imprisons WAY more of our population than the rest of the modern world.  We need to seriously look at why that is.  Are there societal changes that need to be made so less crime is committed?  Is it cheaper and safer to actually have more social programs to deal with poverty than to deal with the results in the criminal system?

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

@BigRedBusterI’m good with supporting whatever solution will help reduce crime that also will have the criminals pay enough of a price for their actions that it deters future crime by them.  
 

I live in KS which is no different than NE so we are talking about the same population figures.  Before we start expanding the probation/social program route we better be damn sure that fixes the problem better than the current situation.  Because right now many people in the KC metro area seem to think the potential rewards of theft are way greater then the potential risk of ever having significant punishment for getting caught.  And people never seem to think much about the after effects of the victims unless we are talking about the really really serious stuff like manslaughter, murder, rape. 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

Not being able to quote someone is being a PI the A.

 

@Archy1221  Well, interestingly, as frustrating as this all is, crime has gone down steadily since around 1993.  

 

LINK

 

Quote

 

Using the FBI data, the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2019, with large decreases in the rates of robbery (-68%), murder/non-negligent manslaughter (-47%) and aggravated assault (-43%). (It’s not possible to calculate the change in the rape rate during this period because the FBI revised its definition of the offense in 2013.) Meanwhile, the property crime rate fell 55%, with big declines in the rates of burglary (-69%), motor vehicle theft (-64%) and larceny/theft (-49%).

Using the BJS statistics, the declines in the violent and property crime rates are even steeper than those reported by the FBI. Per BJS, the overall violent crime rate fell 74% between 1993 and 2019, while the property crime rate fell 71%.

 

 

So...maybe something we are doing IS deterring all kinds of crime.

 

However, this is interesting.

 

Quote

In 20 of 24 Gallup surveys conducted since 1993, at least 60% of U.S. adults have said there is more crime nationally than there was the year before, despite the generally downward trend in national violent and property crime rates during most of that period.

 

Obviously, crime has hit home with you and that is not a pleasant experience to be taken lightly.  However, when making these decisions, we need to look at trends and what is working and not working.

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

Thanks for data!   I guess if things are going in the right direction with crime rates, then I guess I am having hard time wrapping my head around why prisons are so full (outside of long-term mandatory minimums for use crimes).  Or is that basically the only reason?  Or has the prison room capacity not kept up with population increases which would cause overcrowding?  
 

drug Dealing mandatory minimums is a different story for me, because it hurts so many people in so many different ways.    

Meant to say Long mandatory minimums for drug use crimes 

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

People inherently believe things were better in their younger days. 

 

Most people are surprised to find out the crime rate has declined in most categories. They also look back fondly on a bygone time when folks could leave their doors unlocked, and children could walk to school  and play in parks unafraid, but in fact there's been a sharp decrease in violent crime and property crime since the 1990s, and a 2015 report showed it was the safest time to be a child in American history. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/14/theres-never-been-a-safer-time-to-be-a-kid-in-america/

 

I read an interesting article a few years back that traced the phenomenon to putting the faces of missing children on milk cartons — one of the first things people saw every morning. Although well-intentioned, it started an entire industry of selling exaggerated fear to parents. 

  • Plus1 3
Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...