Of course the NY Times article headline reads “Jails Have Become Warehouses for the Poor, Ill and Addicted, a Report Says…”
Here is the full source Jails Have Become Warehouses for the Poor, Ill and Addicted, a Report Says
The article goes on to note, from their never ending reliable and scholarly sources, that “The number of people housed in jails on any given day in the country has increased from 224,000 in 1983 to 731,000 in 2013 — nearly equal to the population of Charlotte, N.C. — even as violent crime nationally has fallen by nearly 50 percent and property crime has dropped by more than 40 percent from its peak.”
[cp_quote style=”quote_normal_dark”]Let me connect the dots for you NY Times. Put people, who commit violent and property crimes repeatedly, in jail and the crime rate will fall. Let them run lose and the crime rate will rise. It’s not rocket science![/cp_quote]
It also claims most of these people were drug users and repeat offenders and had mental health issues. All in all the spirit of the article is as it always is with the NY Times. These poor people are victims. These people should not be in jail. These people are minorities. This must be profiling or some sort of institutionalized racism. It goes on to say “68 percent of jail inmates had a history of abusing drugs.”
What is most astounding is the lack of connection made with putting bad actors in jail and falling property and violent crime rates. Duhh!
Now don’t get me wrong, of course we need to find ways to help treat these criminals. Of course we have to find way to more effectively prevent these crimes… but letting them free will increase crime and create more victims of real crime. Just please stop the wholesale labeling of these people as victims, they are not. They are the ones committing the crimes.
So despite what the NY Times thinks, America please don’t let the criminals out of jail and expect the crime rate to fall. Stop looking at bad actors as victims and the victims as bad guys. Stop making excuses and asking us to pay for it with our lives, limb and property just to make you feel good.
The NY Times and the Vera Institute’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections get the “I can’t see the solution because of my political bias” award of the week. [cp_quote style=”quote_normal_dark”]It’s a Homer Simpson moment people. Duhhh![/cp_quote]
