the question is,, what is the purpose of prisons and is there evidence of it serving its purpose

prison is largely filled with 'poor criminals', and too often the 'rich' criminals have the lawyers and representation to keep them out of prison

so its not that certain segments 'accept' criminality, its that our





the purpose?

To keep people like Charles Manson away from the civilized populous.

I agree that a poor person with a public defender has less of a chance to use the system in their favor than a rich person. No doubt. That is a systemic problem and not the result of the poor person being innocent and still sent to prison simply because they were poor.

When you look at something like the Duke Lacrosse case you see that the only reason they didn't go to jail was because their parents could afford a rigorous defense. Should I feel it was unfair that they were let go because they were rich kids?

There are segments of the population that accept criminality. I think the history of the mafia or white supremacy or the blood and crips or any other criminal enterprise shows complicity within a certain community that overlooks the criminality if it doesn't directly impose itself on them.

That is a fact.




Most criminals actually stem from poor families in the first place and receive a free defense, free education, and free work training. True there are "rich" criminals as well. True they probably do get a better defense. It's not fair...But people need to stop acting like everyone in prison is falsely accused and not harmful to society....A majority of them are harmful to society and a large amount of them Do Not want to be released because they know they are incapable of re-entering society. We do not know the stories behind every single criminal in the system and I am sure there are some pretty heinous crimes that have been committed.

People need to stop acting like everyone in jail is in there for drug charges. Gimme a break. Invictus was right we are trying to keep people like Charles Manson, and The washington Sniper off the streets...

Let all the prisoners out and give them the job of running the country.
They can't be much worse than the criminals we already have running it.

the question is,, what is the purpose of prisons and is there evidence of it serving its purpose

prison is largely filled with 'poor criminals', and too often the 'rich' criminals have the lawyers and representation to keep them out of prison

so its not that certain segments 'accept' criminality, its that our





the purpose?

To keep people like Charles Manson away from the civilized populous.

I agree that a poor person with a public defender has less of a chance to use the system in their favor than a rich person. No doubt. That is a systemic problem and not the result of the poor person being innocent and still sent to prison simply because they were poor.

When you look at something like the Duke Lacrosse case you see that the only reason they didn't go to jail was because their parents could afford a rigorous defense. Should I feel it was unfair that they were let go because they were rich kids?

There are segments of the population that accept criminality. I think the history of the mafia or white supremacy or the blood and crips or any other criminal enterprise shows complicity within a certain community that overlooks the criminality if it doesn't directly impose itself on them.

That is a fact.




Most criminals actually stem from poor families in the first place and receive a free defense, free education, and free work training. True there are "rich" criminals as well. True they probably do get a better defense. It's not fair...But people need to stop acting like everyone in prison is falsely accused and not harmful to society....A majority of them are harmful to society and a large amount of them Do Not want to be released because they know they are incapable of re-entering society. We do not know the stories behind every single criminal in the system and I am sure there are some pretty heinous crimes that have been committed.

People need to stop acting like everyone in jail is in there for drug charges. Gimme a break. Invictus was right we are trying to keep people like Charles Manson, and The washington Sniper off the streets...



ok, so we want to keep people like charles manson off the street, but psychological profiles probably suggest the charles manson types are an extreme minority of the population and probably an even smaller minority of those actually INCARCERATED

when a staggering 60 percent of those incarcerated are there for NON VIOLENT offense, my issue doesnt stem from whether they are innocent of commiting a 'crime' of some sort

my issue comes from the punishment fitting the crime

the non violent offender thrust into an excessively violent environment and seen/treated as less than human from there on out

doesnt seem that much less 'barbaric' than any of the other cultures we see constantly berated in these threads,,, we just dont have the balls to chop off body parts, we only have the audacity to sit back in judgment of the heinous conditions that others 'deserve'

I wouldnt go that far,,lol

I do think there needs to be much more done to decrease some of the conditions which contribute to 'criminal' behavior though


I think the drug laws need to be changed , concerning possession and even selling drugs


I think the non violent offenders left (after drug laws are revisited) should not be housed with violent offenders and left to suffer the SAME consequence

It's true.



Judges have a lot of lee way in sentencing, they are prone to give lighter sentences to people who are doing more with their life than simply coasting through without a job or a family. This isn't going to help the serial criminal, but for one time crimes, it's going to do a lot.



It would be a hell of a thing to send a working man with kids to prison for running a red light, the Judge has to take the law into account and the kids and the man's job. But if someone ran a red light, but didn't have a job or kids to support, it would be easier and perhaps wiser to send the person to jail.



No idea what you are saying here.

Really? REALLY? They didn't go to jail because they were INNOCENT! The woman they "raped" had the semen of six men in her vagina...none of them members of the lacross team. The team had pictures of her leaving and she was smiling and waving at them. The Prosecutor was sent to prison for his treatment of the Lacross team members. I had forgotten how twisted your world view is, thanks for the reminder. I'm guessing the Reverend Jackson is who you got your information from on this case, it wouldn't hurt for you to umm...what do they call it again? Oh yeah: THINK FOR YOURSELF.



EDIT: Oh yeah, the stripper "Crystal Mangum" has been charged with arson, child abuse, resisting arrest and MURDER. Yep, she's really stable and a great witness. Especially since her stripper friend said that Crystal Mangum was lying about being raped in the first place and this wasn't the first time she lied about being gang raped by white men.

Id love the stats that support your conclusions,,,,

is there research pertaining to how often those with children to support go to jail over those who dont

and what of those who enter the system as JUVENILES, no family to support because they are teens,,,,any stats on the discrepancy in their sentencing? or how often they are returned to the system as 'repeat' offenders?


Im saying, judges are human,, they see things that they feel should be respected about themself and they likewise respect it in the suspects before them

things like education, ties to community, social networks, social status,,,,,,

now think about how social discrepancies of the past may have AFFECTED who is more likely to have that education, those ties, those social networks

thats where the term INHERENT comes from when I say the system still has INHERENTLY racial discrepancies in sentencing