Plan B Forum

First thing to point out is that while you may think the "war on drugs" is a stupid waste of time, money, and resources, the manufacture, sale, possession, and use of certain substances was, is — and will remain — illegal, or at least controlled in some form or another, and pretty much everybody who got caught and convicted for possession, selling, or manufacturing them knew it and knew it damned good and well.  Claiming that "everybody else is doing it so it should be legal" is not a defense and does not grant one any exemption or privileges, any more than claiming that "I didn't know what the speed limit was" will get you off the hook for a ticket if you get pulled over by a state trooper on the interstate.

I also wonder how many of the 1.4 million in the prisons and penitentiaries are there on "life" sentences for capital crimes — the same crimes that would have seen them walking to the gas chamber, the gallows, or Ol' Sparky prior to the de facto nationwide abolition of the death penalty in the late 1960s.  There is really no reason that Charles Manson and many others should still be on this side of the sod.  They should have breathed their last shortly after their convictions were final instead of taking up cell space until they die of heart attacks, or cancer, or old age.

-"BB"-

Bicycle Bill wrote:  There is really no reason that Charles Manson and others should still be on this side of the sod. They should have breathed their last shortly after their convictions instead of taking up cell space until they die of heart attacks, or cancer, or old age.

The CA Supreme Court declared the DP unconstitutional in CA in 1972. Hence, the Manson clan (originally sentenced to death) were given life sentences WITH parole. Even after the DP in CA was reinstated, the Manson defendants "beat the rap" so to speak.

dales wrote:

Bicycle Bill wrote:  There is really no reason that Charles Manson and others should still be on this side of the sod. They should have breathed their last shortly after their convictions instead of taking up cell space until they die of heart attacks, or cancer, or old age.

The CA Supreme Court declared the DP unconstitutional in CA in 1972. Hence, the Manson clan (originally sentenced to death) were given life sentences WITH parole. Even after the DP in CA was reinstated, the Manson defendants "beat the rap" so to speak.

Since they were originally given death sentences and the sentence was changed to life with possibility of parole after the DP was declared unconstitutional, maybe when the DP was found to be constitutional once again the original sentence should have been reinstated.

-"BB"-

From prior nonprofit work I've found this is THE best source for incarceration statistics and analysis in the US, updated every year:

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html

This report offers some much needed clarity by piecing together this country’s disparate systems of confinement. The American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 901 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 76 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories. And we go deeper to provide further detail on why people are locked up in all of those different types of facilities.

It shows that 1/5 of US prisoners are incarcerated for drug offenses, most at the federal level where mandatory minimums require harsh sentences that fill the prisons. This was under bipartisan reform until Obama left office and Sessions reinstated the regressive policies at the DOJ.

Death row inmates, while ugly evidence of a flawed injustice system, are a tiny blip in the prison population:

As of April 1, 2017, there were 2,843 death row inmates in the United States. The number of death row inmates changes daily with new convictions, appellate decisions, sentence commutations, deaths (through execution or otherwise), and exonerations.

As of April 1, 2017, there were 2,843 death row inmates in the United States. The number of death row inmates changes daily with new convictions, appellate decisions, sentence commutations, deaths (through execution or otherwise), and exonerations.

Oh, sure. April Fools, right?

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

"They spent $3,600,000 to catch one guy"....

Well, Bob Mueller's probably going to spend more than that for the same purpose...

Lord Jim wrote:"They spent $3,600,000 to catch one guy"....

Well, Bob Mueller's probably going to spend more than that for the same purpose...

3,700,000 ÷ 87,000 = 41.3793
I prefer to look at it as "They spent $41.40 per person to make sure that junkies, alkies, and potheads were not getting welfare checks".
(and they probably weren't testing for alcohol anyway)

-"BB"-

I don't disagree with the basic premise of the thread, but Snopes says that the fun fact isn't one.

http://www.snopes.com/arizona-drug-welfare-recipients/

This War on Drugs is working pretty well: