
Leaving Prison at 72 - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/geneva-cooley-alabama-prison.html
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rayiner
It’s a little sad that so many people only get interested in these problems
for the drug angle:
[https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2019/05/revis...](https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2019/05/revisiting-
life-without-parole-in-alabama-one-prisoner-at-a-time.html)

Geneva Cooley was sentenced to mandatory life without parole based on the drug
conviction. However, even if that hadn’t been the case, she could’ve gotten a
life sentence based on two prior felony convictions for forgery, and a felony
conviction for failing to get tax stamps for the drugs she sold. The drug laws
in Alabama have been amended, but the habitual offender laws have been much
harder to change.

There is a ton of focus on the injustice of drug convictions, maybe because
it’s something middle class people can identify with. But that’s just
scratching the surface of what’s wrong.

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WalterBright
It's terrible that non-violent crimes should get you a life sentence.

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macspoofing
I don't know how true that is.

I strongly suspect it isn't true at all. Politicians keep talking as if there
are thousands of innocent people in prison, but then any reform tends to stall
or backfire (i.e. releasing violent offenders to the public) or not result in
much change.

In almost every case there are usually a plethora of prior convictions, or
there was a violent crime (or a pattern of violent crime) underlying the
conviction but the drug/non-violent conviction is what 'stuck'. In the same
way, Al Capone's conviction wasn't really about non-violent/white-collar crime
of tax evasion. The cases that are cited where there are no associated factors
are, I suspect, few and far between and are largely outliers.

And it makes sense. The justice system is already overburdened. Just as a
matter of practicality, neither judges nor prosecutors wish to send non-
violent offenders to prison. The last season of Serial, which followed a bunch
cases in the Cleveland court system over a few months, showed this. People who
deserved to go to prison, went prison. People who didn't (even if they were
guilty), didn't.

From a big-picture perspective, the vast majority of people in prison deserve
to be in prison.

~~~
tptacek
If we anticipate substantially reducing prison populations, we sure as hell
had better expect to release violent offenders to the public. See Pfaff's
paper and subsequent book about this; violent offenders _are_ the over-
incarceration problem.

~~~
macspoofing
Yep, but that's not what is being argued when 'mass incarceration' reform is
discussed. It's always implied it's all non-violent offenders who are in
prison for marijuana possession.

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wyldfire
Much more upbeat story than "Brooks was Here".

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jedilance
Login bypassed: [http://archive.is/HMVDp](http://archive.is/HMVDp)

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known
I think convicted senior citizens should be house arrested, not jailed;

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crispyporkbites
I’m confused, according to the article this woman, at the age of 55, as a
heroin addict, got life without parole for carrying heroin in a sock across
town.

What a waste of taxpayers money and a complete shambles.

~~~
clarkmoody
With two simple rules you could clear up so much absurdity in the criminal
justice system and in the public perception of the law:

\- No victim, no crime

\- Legal != moral

~~~
ng12
By purchasing heroin/cocaine you are virtually guaranteed to be financially
supporting a narco-terrorist group.

~~~
cr0sh
One could extend that kind of reasoning to a number of so-called "legal"
products and services being sold today.

Either directly or indirectly (degrees of separation), many simple acts of
commerce fund things most would find abhorrent.

Diamonds are most definitely on that list still - despite all the noise and
promises made; I am fairly certain so-called "blood diamonds" are still a part
of the trade.

Gasoline (more concretely, oil) is another.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that various renewables have their own
problems in a similar vein...

You can probably think of others.

~~~
victorbojica
The clothing industry also. There are countless clothing mills around India,
Vietnam and a few other countries. Child labour is king there. Fast-fashion
gave rise to this along with our insatiable desire for newer and cheaper
clothes.

There is also the coffee industry, which at least has the fair trade program,
that helps the small farmers get the money they deserve instead of being
pressured to lower prices by the distributors.

