EPTUS Politics Mega-thread - Page 1185
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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please. In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up! NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action. | ||
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Hagen0
Germany765 Posts
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JonnyBNoHo
United States6277 Posts
On July 22 2014 10:45 IgnE wrote: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf Private prisons writing up and lobbying for lengthier prison sentences and three-strikes laws. States Push For Prison Sentence Overhaul; Prosecutors Push Back Prosecutors want to keep strict sentencing so they can "bitch" defendants. Morrell was one of the sponsors of the marijuana sentencing reform bill that failed in Baton Rouge. He says one of the benefits of that reform would have been a reduction in the power of prosecutors to, as Louisiana courthouse slang puts it, "bitch" a defendant. A reference to Louisiana's habitual offender law, it refers to a DA threatening to use past convictions — often for marijuana possession — to multiply the length of a defendant's potential sentence. But what Morrell sees as a problem, prosecutors regard as a necessary tool. That's because many states are now considering similar reductions to mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, and Congress is considering a similar move for federal drug charges. | ||
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IgnE
United States7681 Posts
On July 22 2014 10:57 JonnyBNoHo wrote: States Push For Prison Sentence Overhaul; Prosecutors Push Back Prosecutors want to keep strict sentencing so they can "bitch" defendants. Ok. Prosecutors are power-hungry bitches too. | ||
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GreenHorizons
United States24156 Posts
On July 22 2014 10:57 JonnyBNoHo wrote: States Push For Prison Sentence Overhaul; Prosecutors Push Back Prosecutors want to keep strict sentencing so they can "bitch" defendants. John de Rosier, the district attorney of Calcasieu Parish, La., says "we have people all the time that we know have been involved in robberies, rapes and murders. We haven't been able to prove our cases, but we're in court with them for second-offense possession of marijuana. What do you think we're going to do?" That's commonly referred to as "prosecutorial discretion," and it's an argument that alarms sentencing reformers like Morrell. "That level of discretion ought to be terrifying to people," Morrell says. "If you cannot convict someone of a murder, of a robbery, whatever, the fact that you have a disproportionate backup charge to convict them anyway kind of defeats the purpose of due process." So they decide your guilty of something, they can't meet the legal hurdles to prove it, so they hit you with a draconian drug law to circumvent due process. Are you saying that's a good thing? Or just that since it happens we shouldn't be bothered by when it and other bad things happen in the private system (who also benefit from the the legislators allowing/prosecutors using this practice)? Nobody knows this better than Lisa Ladd, whose 27-year-old son, Corey, is now serving a 20-year sentence for his conviction for third-offense marijuana possession. He was arrested with a half-ounce. Ladd seems dumbfounded by what's happened to Corey. "He broke the law; he does deserve some sort of punishment," she says. "But 20 years? The scales of justice are just so way off balance. They really are." Now she's raising her imprisoned son's infant daughter. Prosecutors who do this type of stuff are scum. They should be scraped from the pond and discarded, not used as a justifying bad behavior with other bad behavior shtick. | ||
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
I'm not sure how to fix prosecutors attitudes though. | ||
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Vegetarian
119 Posts
User was warned for this post | ||
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Rassy
Netherlands2308 Posts
They all want to "score" as a prosecutor just to have a better change of getting elected for something later in their live. They want to please the public,not serve the law. This obviously does not go for all prosecutors btw. | ||
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oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
having prisons be run for profit on the basis of prisoner labor presents a gigantic conflict of interest vs desired prison outcome. if the government cna provide rehabilitation grants rather than wholesale slave tradin then privatization might make some sense. | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
A federal appeals court dealt a major blow to Obamacare on Tuesday, saying that millions of Americans cannot get subsidies to help pay for their health insurance through HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange serving most of the country. The court said those subsidies can only be given through the state-run exchanges.. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said that the IRS had incorrectly allowed people to get subsidized through the federal exchange. It did not order the subsidies stopped immediately, recognizing that the Obama administration will appeal. source | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
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EmilA
Denmark4618 Posts
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farvacola
United States18866 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:01 EmilA wrote: Excuse my ignorance, but is it really possible to buy private prison stock? Like, is it publicly traded? Yes, two of the largest prison organizations, the Geo group and the CCA, are publicly traded and actually include the supposed benefit of "high recidivism" in their investor prospecti. No joke. | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:03 farvacola wrote: Yes, two of the largest prison organizations, the Geo group and the CCA, are publicly traded and actually include the supposed benefit of "high recidivism" in their investor prospecti. No joke. I am a bad person for investing in those companies. But it helps pay for college. :< | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:33 ticklishmusic wrote: I am a bad person for investing in those companies. But it helps pay for college. :< Yes, you are a bad person.I'm sure many a people went to college on the backs of slaves in the 1800's as well. Which Private Prisons has replaced. | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:39 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Yes, you are a bad person.I'm sure many a people went to college on the backs of slaves in the 1800's as well. Which Private Prisons has replaced. I'm not sure if this is a condemnation of my stock picks lol But GEO does some other things related to mental health, I actually hadn't realized that prisons were such a significant portion of their business. | ||
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
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JonnyBNoHo
United States6277 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:03 farvacola wrote: Yes, two of the largest prison organizations, the Geo group and the CCA, are publicly traded and actually include the supposed benefit of "high recidivism" in their investor prospecti. No joke. If you're talking about the HBO clip, it was a reference to high recidivism in the US not high recidivism specific to CCA. | ||
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xDaunt
United States17988 Posts
On July 23 2014 01:39 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Yes, you are a bad person.I'm sure many a people went to college on the backs of slaves in the 1800's as well. Which Private Prisons has replaced. This is as stupid as blaming drug companies for profiting off of cancer and other illnesses. Let's not pretend that private prison companies are the problem. If we addressed the real problems, all of the private prison companies would go out of business. | ||
Liquid`Drone
Norway28873 Posts
 for what it's worth though I agree that if those factors were fixed private prisons would not by themselves be problematic - private rehabilitation centers don't strike me as particularly problematic and some prisons could certainly be that. | ||
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xDaunt
United States17988 Posts
On July 23 2014 02:11 Liquid`Drone wrote: what's the real problem in this case? I mean from my perspective it'd be draconian drug laws combined with a culture of wealth-glorification combined with gross systematic inequality making crime the only perceivably realistic way for many to have a shot at achieving the american dream and thus a feeling of self worth combined with your population having a particularly vengeful mindset, but I'm not sure you agree with my analysis nor with all of that being problematic. for what it's worth though I agree that if those factors were fixed private prisons would not by themselves be problematic - private rehabilitation centers don't strike me as particularly problematic and some prisons could certainly be that. Well, stupid drug laws is a big problem. Beyond that, there are some serious cultural problems --- and I am just going to be blunt -- among certain minorities, resulting in abnormally high crime rates in these groups. | ||
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