23 Petty Crimes That Have Landed People in Prison for Life Without Parole | Mother Jones.
I just read this article from Josh Harkinson for Mother Jones and I thought it was worth passing along. It’s informing readers of a new report put out by the American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org).
In this “land of the free”, we now think it’s just fine and dandy to lock people up for LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE for things like…
POSSESSING a crack pipe!
POSSESSING stolen WRENCHES!!
Shoplifting 2 jerseys from an athletics store!!!
How in the HELL can anyone justify this??? I only listed 3 of the insane things they have been doing to people lately.
Try taking a look at the book: Three Felonies A Day by Harvey Silverglate (http://harveysilverglate.com/Books/ThreeFeloniesaDay.aspx). The list is long and getting longer every day. Piss off a cop and don’t have big bucks for a good lawyer, you ARE going to spend some time in jail! I keep telling people we live in a police state now and no one ever believes me.
Well WTF do YOU call it when they will lock you up for LIFE for something as minor as ‘siphoning gas from a truck’ or OMG ‘making a drunken threat to a police officer while handcuffed to the back of a police car”???
This is where we’re at today. Most of it is because of the war on (some) drugs. Look at the list they provide, TEN out of the 23 listed ‘offenses’ are drug offenses. Six out of those 10 are for simple POSSESSION! I don’t see where simple possession of ANYTHING should be allowed to deprive someone of their liberty for even one second! Much less lock them away for LIFE.
THIS is what the war on (some) drugs has done to our once free country! It has done the same thing that alcohol prohibition started to do, but so much worse since for some odd reason we still haven’t awoken to the brainwashing ‘our’ leaders have subjected us to.
Just like during alcohol prohibition, the drugs of choice of many people were outlawed by moralistic busybodies who had NO authority to do so. Instead of minding their OWN business, they decided they just HAD to run everybody ELSE’S life since they knew SO much better how to do it. (idiots!!!)
Because of the LAW, the drugs people wanted became harder to find. Because they were harder to find, some people (‘criminals’) found ways to supply them (for a profit of course- why take a risk without a reward?). The harder the ‘law’ made it to find their drug of choice, the more profitable it became for people to supply it. Because of the risk of going around the ‘law’, the profits grew.
Profits grew til it was worth it for the REAL criminal gangs to get involved and take over those profits. The only way to settle disputes outside the legal system was to take it to the streets. Thus, the machine gun shootouts where innocent people got killed in the crossfire.
The risk of getting caught with the prohibited items (beer/wine/booze) also caused a change in peoples drinking habits. Because beer was easier for the cops to find (basically because it was stored in bigger bottles), people started switching to hard liquor which was easier to smuggle and keep hidden. This was also why you hear stories of people blinded by ‘bathtub gin’. People had to take risks to get their supply.
The SAME thing is happening now, more people started using cocaine since it was easier to get busted with pot. Cocaine was processed into crack since crack was a less risky (from the perspective of getting caught with it) form of the drug. People started switching to things like meth and now they’ve created ‘krocodile’ , a truly dangerous drug (IF news reports can be believed).
And don’t forget how the spread of mandatory drug testing has caused people to switch from marijuana to harder, more dangerous drugs since pot stays in your system for much longer (even tho it has ZERO effect on you after the first day or so).
The invention of krocodile (and other dangerous drugs) is a DIRECT consequence of the WAR on (some) drugs! All those suffering people rotting from the inside out should place the blame squarely on the pandering power hungry THUGS we call politicians for trying to stop them from getting high every once in a while on a SAFE drug like marijuana and so instead they use dangerous drugs like krocodile!
No, I am NOT trying to say that people have no responsibility for their own actions. Of course they should have it. They should be ALLOWED to have it. They should be ALLOWED to make the proper choices for THEIR lives without force and coercion.
Telling people you are going to make their choices for them, for ‘their own good’ is NOT good for them or for anybody else! And if YOU are making THEIR choices for them, then how in the hell can you say they have any real responsibility?
Of course, throughout this whole ‘experiment’ of government ‘for our own good’, the criminals were making money hand over fist. To make sure they stayed out of jail, they bribed and corrupted anyone susceptible in the system to protect them, to look the other way. Ruining our police, courts and any semblance of justice.
Another way our country was hurt by the ‘laws’ against (some) drugs was the loss of general consensus that the law was worthy of respect. HUGE numbers of people came to understand that the ‘law’ was morally wrong and just plain STUPID in addition to being exceedingly harmful to individuals and society as a whole.
The ONLY difference we are dealing with today is that we are too stupid to learn the lessons we SHOULD have from alcohol prohibition! We somehow allowed ‘our’ leaders to prohibit certain other substances. They didn’t even bother to do it legally this time. They thought they could sneak it by us in congress without any real debate and no constitutional amendment (thus NO AUTHORITY)!
The results are as expected. Worse, since we have let it go on for so long. We have not only locked up more people per capita than any other country on the face of the earth, but we have used the excuse of the war on (some) drugs to completely trash the entire constitution!
The ONLY amendment in the Bill of Rights that we have NOT thrown out the window in order to prosecute the war on (some) drugs is the one about quartering troops in your house.
Thanks to Mother Jones and the ACLU for publicizing this issue. I hope it goes viral. My post here is my attempt to help with that. I REALLY hope people will start looking at the FACTS about drugs (all drugs) and STOP being so gullible to just believe what ‘our’ leaders are spouting out.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, they do NOT have our good in mind, they are only out for themselves! They are NOT authorities, they do NOT have any special knowledge! They are politicians, therefore they are all LIARS!