Tulsa 'race attack' shootings

[mrveggieman]

You're decidedly more cynical than I am. I think we were actually FOUNDED to be a society full of well-educated individuals capable of critical thinking.

That may have been way back when but it is no longer the case.

[Star_Cards]

I can see both sides of the death penalty. I find it okay when we know 100% that the offender did the crime worthy of that punishment, but with stories of people being sentenced for crimes they in fact didn't comment, part of me wonders if the death penalty should be used. There are a few people who spend many years in prison and are found not guilty due to new technologies that they didn't have at the time of their trial. What if one of those people had been executed? It's a pretty messed up thing to think about if you think of it in that manner.

Obviously there are times when there is undeniable proof that a person carried out a crime. In those cases I think I'm okay with the death penalty. However, I don't think the death penalty serves as a deterrent in most cases.

[hawk2618]

Well,your case also supports that capital punishment should be used more often and faster.If you got rid of the severe crime doers,rapers murderers,child molesters.That would free up huge space.I don't disagree with you one bit.The system is badly flawed.The way population is growing at an astounding rate,crime can only increase at the same rate with no end in site.I have no answer.I wish someone did!
~~Dave C.

[pghin08]

Well,your case also supports that capital punishment should be used more often and faster.If you got rid of the severe crime doers,rapers murderers,child molesters.That would free up huge space.I don't disagree with you one bit.The system is badly flawed.The way population is growing at an astounding rate,crime can only increase at the same rate with no end in site.I have no answer.I wish someone did!
~~Dave C.

A couple things:

1. It wouldn't free up nearly as much space as getting a lot of the non-violent criminals out of prisons.

2. Violent crime in the US is on a RAPID decline over the past 20 years.
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

A couple weeks ago on CNN, Fareed Zakaria said something that I agreed with wholeheartedly:

"In the past two decades, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons, versus $5.7 billion on higher education..... The state spends $8,667 per student per year. It spends about $50,000 per inmate per year. Why is this happening? Prisons are a big business. Most are privately run. They have powerful lobbyists and they have bought most state politicians. Meanwhile, we are bankrupting out states and creating a vast underclass of prisoners who will never be equipped for productive lives."

[mrveggieman]

A couple things:

1. It wouldn't free up nearly as much space as getting a lot of the non-violent criminals out of prisons.

2. Violent crime in the US is on a RAPID decline over the past 20 years.
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

A couple weeks ago on CNN, Fareed Zakaria said something that I agreed with wholeheartedly:

"In the past two decades, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons, versus $5.7 billion on higher education..... The state spends $8,667 per student per year. It spends about $50,000 per inmate per year. Why is this happening? Prisons are a big business. Most are privately run. They have powerful lobbyists and they have bought most state politicians. Meanwhile, we are bankrupting out states and creating a vast underclass of prisoners who will never be equipped for productive lives."

I agree that more money should be spent on education that prisons but like I mentioned earlier the powers that don't be want it that way. Prisons are indeed a big business nothing more than legalized slavery.

[hawk2618]

The word slavery has no bearing on someone being in prison one bit.If you're in prison,more than likely,you deserve to be there.You were'nt considered a slave because you did a crime.There's a huge difference.

[mrveggieman]

The word slavery has no bearing on someone being in prison one bit.If you're in prison,more than likely,you deserve to be there.You were'nt considered a slave because you did a crime.There's a huge difference.

I'm not trying to suggest that you are not in prison because you don't deserve to be in there but prisons are a big for profit business and the companies that run prisons do make good money based on how many people are locked up.

[Star_Cards]

I agree that more money should be spent on education that prisons but like I mentioned earlier the powers that don't be want it that way. Prisons are indeed a big business nothing more than legalized slavery.

I don't think it's comparable to slavery. I get that you are saying that companies earn money based off of their population, but not exactly on par with slavery.

[mrveggieman]

I don't think it's comparable to slavery. I get that you are saying that companies earn money based off of their population, but not exactly on par with slavery.

Not slavery of an innocent man per say but I've heard stories of being being locked up for petty crimes and someone goading them to getting in a fight in jail so their time would be extended and therefore making the corporation more money.

[AUTaxMan]

A couple weeks ago on CNN, Fareed Zakaria said something that I agreed with wholeheartedly:

"In the past two decades, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons, versus $5.7 billion on higher education..... The state spends $8,667 per student per year. It spends about $50,000 per inmate per year. Why is this happening? Prisons are a big business. Most are privately run. They have powerful lobbyists and they have bought most state politicians. Meanwhile, we are bankrupting out states and creating a vast underclass of prisoners who will never be equipped for productive lives."

This one was going pretty well until Zakaria turned it into a straw man argument.