05-30-2015, 05:01 AM
(05-28-2015, 03:47 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: Violent crime continues to decrease in the U.S. and yet the incarceration percentage remains steady. To me, that's indicative of too many people being jailed for laws that make what legislators consider immoral or self-harming behavior a "crime". Plus, there is financial incentive based on number of arrests and filling prison cells. On top of that, police investigate themselves when brutality is alleged which is a real conflict of interest. And so on... Our justice system needs reform, no doubt in my mind.
In the county Jail I volunteer at, at least 95 percent of the inmates I talk to are there because of heroin use. There are absolutely no services to help people stay clean once they get out of Jail, so many of them go back to doing drugs and stealing. I wish there were services in place to help people stay clean and get their lives back together.
Sober people are much less of a drain on the economy than someone that ends up being arrested every other week.