
A.C.L.U. In $50M Push to Reduce Jail Sentences - aaronbrethorst
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/us/aclu-in-dollar50-million-push-to-reduce-jail-sentences.html
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aaronbrethorst
A little more background on this: the person who was tapped to run this
program was the key person behind Washington's marijuana legalization I-502
citizens' initiative. i.e. she's pragmatic, capable, and has a track record of
getting things done.

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mchanson
Its exciting to think we (the USA) might slowly be waking up from the
nightmare that is the war on drugs.

Hopeful for continued progress!

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Someone1234
If you're referring to the Washington legalisation, I'd agree that is a step
forward. If you mean in general I'm not sure if the US is changing all that
much.

The US has a strange puritanical undertone to it that doesn't seem to be going
away. Things that are considered immoral are outlawed and heavily punished,
often with no chance of redemption (i.e. in the US most crimes never expire
and it is hard (and expensive) to get them expunged).

You can see this puritanical nature everywhere, from violence Vs. sex on TV,
in crimes (i.e. sex is prosecuted disproportionately harshly), video games,
and so on, to drugs ("war on drugs," US's obsession with [legal] painkillers,
while dishing out anti-depressants like candy), homophobia in general (and
"abnormal" things in the bedroom), alcohol, and on and on.

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ojbyrne
You say yourself it is an undertone, and certainly there is a very bipolar
nature to American culture. That doesn't mean it can't change for the better.
Gay sex has gone from something that once was the most heinous possible thing
imaginable to something that's being accepted in even the most conservative of
states. Marijuana is now legal in 4 states (and a district) and only a minor
infraction in several others. Both these things wouldn't have been imaginable
20 years ago.

The one thing the country is, is dynamic. It changes a lot quicker than many
other countries.

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toomuchtodo
> The one thing the country is, is dynamic. It changes a lot quicker than many
> other countries.

As the population "ages out" (older people with different societal mores die
out, are replaced with younger folks), these changes occur. If you check out
the exit polls for Florida for their recent medicinal marijuana ballot
initiative, the 65+ age cohort was 62% against/38% for it. Compare that to the
18-29 age cohort (79% for/21% against).

[http://cnn.com/election/2014/results/state/FL](http://cnn.com/election/2014/results/state/FL)

I leave it to the reader to calculate the "run rate" at which time ballot
measures such as these pass based on actuarial data in various states.

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clairity
awesome!

most crimes are out of desperation (particularly drug offenses), not ill-
intent, but we punish them the same. the disadvantaged and systemic poor are
in situations from which escape is exceedingly difficult. we should have a
little compassion and bring sheep back into the fold with forgiveness, not
exacerbate the underlying condition. it's not the punishment that keeps people
in line anyways, it's social bonds. you need systems that strengthen social
bonds for offenders, not tear them apart like prison does.

"there, but for the grace of god, go i" (an apt sentiment, regardless of the
religious connotation).

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gohrt
> Koch Industries recently gave a grant “of significant six figures” to the
> National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to support the defense of
> indigents

A small fig leaf compared to the Koch budget, but interesting.

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jessriedel
Interesting that it's not higher? The Koch's are libertarians.

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coldpie
I'm surprised how often I read articles about good work the ACLU is doing. I
began a monthly donation earlier this year and plan to continue it for as long
as I'm able. If you like the work they're doing, please consider starting a
donation yourself.

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gohrt
$50M is approximately what the prison industry has spent in the past decade in
their push to increase jail sentences:

[http://www.thenation.com/article/173122/what-does-
millions-l...](http://www.thenation.com/article/173122/what-does-millions-
lobbying-money-buy-five-congresspeople-pocket-private-prison-indus)

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chasing
This is great -- I wholly support it. But we've also got a government that's
increasingly run by willful know-nothings. So I'm skeptical about our ability
as a country to make a much-needed change like this.

(And I wish to be proven wrong.)

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arzugula
This should be especially exciting to tech feminists who are striving for
gender equality and are surely outraged about the crime sentencing gap which
jails men for 63% longer than women who commit the same crimes.

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Steuard
Yep, speaking as a pretty staunch feminist (though by no means any sort of
formal spokesperson), it _is_ exciting to see a move toward greater justice on
this front. I'm sure it's not universal, but just about every feminist site
that I've ever spent time on (and just about every feminist I've known) is
upset by the ways in which the gender biases in our society hurt and constrain
men as well as women. It's a very real and frequently stated hope that as
social attitudes toward men and women become less polarized, _everyone_ will
be better off (and issues like criminal sentencing and fathers' rights are
prime examples of that).

Mind you, different people have different senses of where the easiest or most
urgent places are to advance that broad cause. But that's true of all of us,
and not just in feminism: some people make charitable gifts to local soup
kitchens, others to global malaria prevention, and yet others to the EFF.
That's why it's so crucial for a wide range of people to be part of the
feminist movement: to effect large-scale social change, we need people with
passion working on as many fronts as possible.

