Monday, January 30, 2012

Why Does the United States Lock Up So Many People?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/witness/201201/why-does-the-united-states-lock-so-many-people

Click on link to read and post comments on Singsank's Sociology Blog

19 comments:

  1. I also wonder why this is? In my point of view people are just struggling to survive. Some people take drastic measures to survive in this expensive world today just to try and either live very poor or try to make it above the poverty level. Even though some people with a common sense just push they’re hardest and give it their all! They may have a job or maybe two or three but their willing to sacrifices anything just to get by without having to break the law.

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  2. i agree partially, i think that all these people that go against the law and take all the drastic measures because they didnt give it there all where they needed too. in my opinion if your one of them out there that is struggling to survive because of poverty you didnt use your abilities to your advantage.

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  3. One fact is, and its been proven, a lot of people when in prison relize "wow, if I do another small crime I can be put back in and continue to get free housing, food, and not worry about reality or bills." And with the bad economy today some people actually try to go to prison to avoid living in poverty.

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  4. Well I think that our country is losing its controllability due to the fact that people take their amendments for granted and that they think that they can hide behind them as an excuse for some of the things they do. In other reasons most people locked up deserve it and I support keeping the country clean, we need harder law enforcement in this country. People think they can do what ever they want. YUUUP!

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  5. I think one of the biggest things that went unaddressed in this post was what kind of criminals are being subjected to solitary confinement. If it's someone who's in jail just for shoplifting, then yes, I agree, it is unjust. However, if they're serial killers, then I absolutely agree with their punishment.

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    1. Yes, the type of crime and the damage caused should have more of an impact on the type of punishment, whether solitary confinement is a fair sentence or not.

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  6. I think that they should cut down on the imprisonment in America. I believe that we can not afford to have so so many prisoners. So instead of sending drug addicts to prison they should send them to rehab.

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  7. I think the law goes to far. its not that the person is bad hes just trying to survivve and its what people think

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  8. I think it could go either way. Some people can't help that they were born into poverty, and I don't think it would be the biggest cake walk to get out of poverty either. I feel like their mind-set would be they 'gotta do what they gotta do' to survive. Meaning a number of different things, sometimes illegal. There are definitely exceptions too. If I were put into poverty and I hadn't ate for 3 days or I had to feed my kids and literally had no money, I would probably take part in an illegal activity too. It's natural instinct to survive.

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  9. Theres a fine line that i think has been crossed where there puishing people that have made a mistake and punishing criminals like repeat offenders and serious crimes. People that have not comitted mulitiple crimes and do not pose a threat to society should not be locked up it should be a fine house arrest or community service..and that already happens but it should start happening to a bigger group of "criminals"

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  10. Not saying America should do this but some countries cut off peoples hands for stealing i dont think anyone in their right mind would steal in that country so maybe our punishement is what the problem is

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  11. i think that some people who have nothing want to be in jail. if they are in there they have to get 3 meals a day and a roof over there head when they sleep.

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  12. The question I have is how much does fairness and reason go into determining the judgement of proven guilty criminals? Also, do criminals deserve fairness and sympathy from us? Assuming each case is different, we shouldn't have a strict policies like solitary confinement be awarded to everyone guilty of this, this, and this crime. We should specialize punishments to be fit for each different case, assuming we care about fairness for criminals.

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  13. I have a family members who work in the Criminal Justice systems, and I hear stories about the people they come across, and from what I have heard, the deserve to be locked up.

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  14. i think that the american tends to think that proverty poeple are the ones that cause more trouble and yeah that can be so but you also have to think about the cops that are mainly gonna focus on them just because of where the live. Cops let go of people that are higher in society and brush them under the rug while the eyes are right on people that are lower class.

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  15. i think most people that feel like they have nothing want to be in jail because they feel like they already have nothing and if they were in jail they would get a place to stay and food and also i think that they lock up so many people because these days it seems like when someone gets out of jail they dont clean up there act they just continue doing bad things..

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  16. It is one of the way that America wastes the most money. Simple answer, non-violent people should not be put in jail. It cost way to much money for tax payers to send Joe who touched a cop on the shoulder and gets charged for assault, and he now gets to sit in jail for 3 months. So silly.

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  17. some people just don't want to deal with life and the difficulties that come with hit like getting a good paying job. So they'll be like sweet i can do a crime and just live in prison where i'll get fed and stuff

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  18. there are so many crimes that you should just get a fine for that way ppl dont need to wast jail space for the people who really need it

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