
Mass Incarceration: The Silence of the Judges - sergeant3
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/may/21/mass-incarceration-silence-judges/
======
Zikes
We all know what ultimately needs to happen.

Marijuana needs legalized. Minimum sentencing guidelines need to be replaced
with maximums. For-profit prisons need to disappear. More work needs put into
counseling and mentoring at-risk youths.

But how do we get there? Do we find another politician to hang our hopes on?
Last time I voted for someone campaigning on Hope and Change we saw more civil
rights disappear than ever, and Gitmo is _still_ running.

~~~
thirsteh
Why use Gitmo as an example when there are plenty of other areas where you can
bash Obama, like continuing many of the Executive Order programs? At least he
genuinely tried to shut down Gitmo and was blocked from doing so.

I think believing a single person/president/whatever can fix all problems is
wishful thinking, and indeed a system in which that was possible would likely
not be a democracy.

Start by blaming all the representatives who pushed for or voted against
ending the programs you don't like, and voting accordingly. Look at the voting
histories of candidates rather than what they say. Look at who funds the
candidates , not at what the candidates say. Actually, listen to everything
other than what candidates say during election season; the game is set up in
such a way that you will always be disappointed if you simply believe what is
said, no matter the candidate.

~~~
Zikes
There are plenty of other examples where he's let me down, and plenty of good
he's done, but the fact remains that Gitmo is still running.

He's literally the leader of the armed forces, he has all the power he needs
to shut that place down any time he wants.

~~~
revscat
This is factually and legally incorrect. The President cannot use any federal
funds to modify the prison at Gitmo, or to transfer prisoners. This was part
of the budget in I believe 2012, and has been every year since. (Should you
need citations I will find them when I return home later.)

Point is that shutting down Gitmo was something the Administration attempted
to do and that Congress forcefully blocked.

~~~
kefka
The POTUS has, and I quote, the following:

"The President...shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences
against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1

They are detainees of the USA. He has full power to bestow each and every one
of them a full unequivocal presidential pardon for all crimes accused and
committed against the US. No if's, and's, or but's.

~~~
mmanfrin
Extremes should not be remedied with extremes.

~~~
task_queue
You're right. Those presidential pardons are reserved for important people.

~~~
Terr_
Side note: Presidential pardons are the ultimate answer to any argument for
"torture the terrorist to stop the nuclear bomb" scare-stories.

If you aren't willing to gamble that you'll need/get a Presidential pardon,
then you clearly don't know enough to justify what you're about to do to the
suspect.

------
jcadam
I just watched a local news story (FL) about a vacationing couple that got
caught having sex on the beach. They're looking at _serious_ prison time,
possibly 15 years (they had just been convicted and were getting ready for the
sentencing phase of the trial). And of course, they'll both have to register
as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

WTF? I would have expected a fine and _maybe_ some community service. The
prosecutor was practically gloating: "We want people to know we take this sort
of behavior seriously."

~~~
IndianAstronaut
People seem to forget that bad prosecutors are a local issue, and as such, if
people were involved more in their local government, they can have a say in
these matters.

~~~
rayiner
People seem to forget that prosecutors tend to reflect the attitudes of the
voters in their districts.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/florida-couple-
sex-...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/florida-couple-sex-beach-
video_n_5609350.html) ("This time, Emily Hall, a concerned parent, called
police. According to a probable cause affidavit, she told cops that she became
'very upset' because her 4-year-old daughter 'witnessed the couple having
sex.' She wasn't alone. Six witnesses filed complaints against Alvarez and
Caballero.")

~~~
click170
Granted this shouldn't have taken place on a public beach but I still do not
understand America's prudishness when it comes to sex. It's like they've never
seen and fantasized about it before.

~~~
harryh
There have been cultures that are prudish about sex for thousands of years. If
you can't understand them, it says a lot more about you than it does about
them.

~~~
jakeogh
Why attack someone who admits not understanding something? And really, since
you seem to think it says something about the parent, why not just say what
you think it says?

One could also say (without actually saying anything) that your comment says a
lot more about you than it does about the parent.

------
cgrubb
prison population by type of crime (2012):

    
    
        violent: 47.7%
        property: 17.1%
        drug: 20.5%
        public order: 13.8%
    

"public order" includes drunk driving, weapons possession, and prostitution.
Source
[http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=0...](http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004339)

Recidivism rates (2005):

    
    
        violent: 71.3%
        property: 82.1%
        drug: 76.9%
        public order: 73.5%
    

Source:
[http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welco...](http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welcome.aspx)

~~~
slowmovintarget
For prostitution the U.S. ought to follow the Swiss (I think) model: to sell
is legal, to buy is criminal, for the reason that the buyer inherently
victimizes the seller.

Drugs? I suppose some form of regulation would be better. Governments get
scary when they attempt to legislate morality. Drug use is immoral (IMO), but
perhaps it shouldn't be illegal.

~~~
oldmanjay
>for the reason that the buyer inherently victimizes the seller

you'll have to explain here, because it seems to me that under a legal regime,
a prostitute making a clear decision to sell sex is no more a victim than the
owner of a convenience store deciding to sell slurpees.

~~~
mikepurvis
It's contentious— there is certainly a class of sex worker who is empowered
and fully in control of the economic transaction being carried out. But there
are also many, many who are trapped and not making their own decisions,
especially when drugs are part of the picture.

~~~
harshreality
Ban an entire market because sometimes the sources of labor are repugnant?

What percentage of the market has to be drugged-out sex slaves (often imported
from some other countries, if the horror stories are true) before it's
acceptable to shut down the whole market by criminalizing it?

Does criminalizing the market help those drug-addicted sex slaves, or does it
make their situation worse?

~~~
dragonwriter
Criminalizing the market us why its run by the same groups that run the
illegal drug trade and why the people working in it often feel they have no
recourse against abuse -- it is, in other words, the reason why there are
drugged out sex slaves. If it was legal, well-regulated, with effective
workplace protections, the character would be radically different.

------
rayiner
[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/may/21/mass-
in...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/may/21/mass-
incarceration-silence-judges).

The author, Jed Rakoff, is a prominent federal judge in New York. It's good to
hear him speak out on the issue.

------
briantakita
The prison companies are probably bad actors that should be disbanded; their
assets liquidated & distributed to the wrongly incarcerated & taxpayers.

