Here's a question that was asked to me two weeks ago:

Would you rather see a murderer/rapist walk free, or an innocent man convicted for life of a crime he didn't commit? My choice was simple. What's yours?

 

I had to look at your profile to see how old you are; number seems inflated. Not for a moment do I doubt that making the decision was a "simple" one for you, as simple minds are wont to make simple choices when pressed with weighty questions (Ref: this entire thread).

Actually, that question doesn't make much sense. I am "seeing" the murderer "walk free"? Are you saying you would prefer to place someone in jail, even if you don't have 100% conclusive proof, so long as someone is paying for a crime? Because if you didn't know, until a case is solved, murderers and rapists ARE "walking free"; so in some sense, you are suggesting it's OK by you to put an innocent man behind bars if you could simply tell yourself you've got the actual murderer. There is historical evidence that justice is not perfect this you cannot deny. And so your absolutist question falls flat once you hit "Post reply".

Shame on me for assuming another forum member could discuss an issue like incarceration rates in America, like an adult.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRMBxnxWiNQ&autoplay=1

 

Who's being juvenile here? I was under the impression we were having an adult conversation.

"Until a case is solved they are walking free..." What? Do you live in the states? People do go to jail around here while awaiting trial. I don't think your statement is applicable to the majority of cases.

You assume my position before I even tell it to you

The decision was simple, I'd rather see the guilty walk free and not see the innocent punished.

There's a lot of scope creep going on in this thread as well. I was just trying to find 15 people to say whether or not they've been to jail before. I knew I should have used a poll.

 

Well I've never been to prison, but I kind of like the music.

 

This happens all the time in the So Cal forum. Any thread involving incarceration, unemployment, education, immigration, welfare...someone will cry "RACIST".

 

That's because the first thing people do is bring up race. This issue shouldn't be about race, it should be about policies and circumstantial factors; unfortunately, it immediately turns to race because some folks just can't help themselves.


Hell, if anything, the staggering figure is the fact that men are 10 times more likely to go to jail than women. 10 times more likely! But no, race is what comes up first.

 

Case in point someone posted a link to a SoCal Forum thread about illegal immigrants and some huge methamphetamine bust. Not even halfway through page one the discussion turns to race; unfortunately some people have this inkling to attempt to make a point about race, probably because they harbor some nasty sentiments but would rather express it by posting figures to imply how "bad" black males are. But again, as is the case with this thread, no one wants to study the factors surrounding an issue they just want to point their fingers at someone.

 

10 times more likely! That figure is stupid, you're not considering the circumstances that drive men to commit more crimes than women. I can give you a thousand links to college studies that say men are subjected to more hardships in their upbringing than women, therefore your "10 times more likely" statistic is inaccurate and not worth mentioning in this thread.

Thought I'd play the feminist card the same way you are playing the racist card.

 

roffle

So what's wrong with the policies then? Are you suggesting we make all drugs legal or something?

 

I was simply bringing up the fact that there are more "startling" numbers than the ones based on race; considering no one in here made an attempt to bring up policies or studies, I assumed most would rather post about things that simply start them. Of course, the only thing that startles most are the figures for African Americans, because it's a perfect opportunity for them to point fingers.

If YOU want to discuss policies and studies about the difference in incarceration for genders, I would be very open to doing so. It would also be a first in this thread, so I congratulate you on that.