PRISON FRENZY AND DRUG WAR A HUGE DRAG ON THE ECONOMY A NEW REPORT SAYS
Denver Westword writes of a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research called Ex-Offenders and the Labor Market.
According to statistics compiled by the Justice Policy Institute, the number of inmates in state prisons for drug offenses increased by 550 percent over the past two decades. While the billions spent on incarcerating drug offenders is already well-documented, Schmitt’s study seeks to gauge the impact of millions of ex-offenders, no longer readily employable because of their felony records, hitting the job market.
The figures are alarming. Roughly one in 33 working-age adults has been in prison. (For males in the 30-34 age range, it’s more like one in ten.) Because a felony conviction has a dramatic effect on job prospects — even for low-paying jobs that require little education — the study’s authors estimate that the swelling population of ex-offenders lowered employment in 2008 by as much as 1.7 million workers, costing the economy as much as $65 billion in diminished output.
The report’s authors suggest sentencing reform (naturally, anyone sensible would).
ACLU SUES STATE OF MICHIGAN SAYING THAT LIFE SENTENCES FOR KIDS CONSTITUTE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT
This is one of a number such challenges around the country. The ACLU hopes to push this case through to SCOTUS. The Detroit Free Press has the story.
The ACLU sued the State of Michigan today on behalf of nine people who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole for crimes they committed as juveniles
[SNIP]
“These life without parole sentences ignore the very real differences between children and adults, abandoning the concepts of redemption and second chances,” Deborah Labelle, lawyer for the ACLU of Michigan’s Juvenile Life Without Parole Initiative, said in a statement accompanying the suit.
“As a society, we believe children do not have the capacity to handle adult responsibilities, so we don’t allow them to use alcohol, join the Army, serve on a jury or vote — yet we sentence them to the harshest punishment we have in this state — to die in adult prisons,” Labelle added.
FOUR LOKO BANNED IN THIRD STATE
Evidently getting drunk and over-caffeinated by drinking a single canned beverage is not terribly good for one’s health. (Well, there’s a shocker.)
Neon Tommy’s Callie Schweitzer has the story of the new idiotic drink that has just been banned in Washington State in addition to Michigan and Oklahoma.
(Schweitzer reports that one 23.5-ounce can of Four Loko is said to contain the equivalent of four or five beers and the caffeine in two cups of coffee.)
NO INSIGHTS YET INTO THE MYSTERY OF RONNIE CHASON’S MURDER
As many in LA did, I’d known PR maven Ronnie Chasen for years. Not well at all. Mostly professionally. But enough to like and respect her.
That she was shot five times and killed on a Beverly Hills street seems bizarre and incomprehensible.
The LA Times reports that Beverly Hills police still have little idea what happened and why. They are hoping that video tapes from local businesses will help.
The Wrap has more.
THE FEDS LOOKING INTO SAM ZELL’S EMPLOYEE STOCK DEAL
“Well now, this could get interesting fast,” writes LA Observed’s Kevin Roderick of the Chicago Tribune’s report about the U.S. Labor Department investigation of the Tribune Company employee stock ownership plan that played a bit part in the $8 billion leveraged buyout that gave Sam Zell control of the company in 2007. Roderick writers that Court filings show that the Internal Revenue Service also has audited the ESOP, ‘which Zell employed in the novel transaction to shield Tribune Co. from sizeable tax obligations once it went private…'”
Yep. It could get really interesting.
HARRIS’S LEAD OVER COOLEY STILL GROWING
Harris is around 30,000 votes ahead as of very early Thursday morning.
How about all the kids that are coming from broken homes and families, torn apart forever due to young fathers and mothers doing time over chickenshit drug beefs?
And with this “new” research, and seeming evidence of a conspiracy by the Prison Industrial Complex, to make billions off of taxpayers, who pay to support this evil system, that institute’s and codifies the draconian, medieval, sentencing and incarceration of people, not to mention the obvious class warfare that has been waged on the underclass and targeted ethnic groups by the bean counters and flesh merchants of the ruling economic class’s, then my question would be, why doesn’t the Dept of Justice bring Federal RICO charges against these bastards who make up the Prison Industrial Complex?
Maybe they could start with ex Governors Deukmejian and Wilson? I bet there are a bunch of these ex politico’s who provoke a frightened voting public to pass “get tough on crime laws”, then immediately go to work as lobbyists and mouthpieces for the Prison Industrial Complex when they leave office, making millions of dollars for thier efforts.
Sounds like a criminal conspiracy and RICO case to me.
Fat Chance though.
We are still missing is the vitriol and the Robber Barons.
Okay, the idea or wading through the comment stream to try to decide who’s behaving worse than whom, does not seem like a productive endeavor. So here’s the deal:
ANY COMMENTS THAT ARE PERSONAL ATTACKS WILL BE DELETED. REPEATS WILL CAUSE BANNING.
If you don’t know what that means, read WLA’s 10 Rules for commenting. Then read them again:
RULES OF THE ROAD
I fully believe that a lively and diverse community of commenters makes a news site and/or blog a much richer and more valuable place for all concerned.
But I have learned through trial and error that a system of comment moderation is necessary for such a community to germinate, grow and thrive.
Hence the following 10 RULES FOR COMMENTING AT WITNESS LA
Rule #1: Be civil to and respectful of other commenters. No ad hominem attacks. Discuss or argue issues, do not attack people.
Rule #2: When in doubt, use the Living Room Rule.
If you come into the house—AKA WitnessLA— and behave rudely to a guest at the nice party in the living room, I will ask you to stop. If you continue, you’ll be escorted to the door, and I will tell the big, bad, heavily armed bouncer not to let you back in. Basically, the living room rule means that you should behave as if you’re an invited guest at a lively salon in my living room. Don’t monopolize the conversation. Be civil. Don’t attack people personally. This is a dinner party. Not a food fight.
And just to be clear, if someone attacks you, you don’t have permission to start throwing crockery back. Ignore them. I’ll deal with them—either sooner or later. Send me an email, if you like. If you both trash the living room, I won’t care who started it. Both of you will get tossed.
Rule #3: Racist, sexist, homophobic or generally hate filled comments have no place here.
Ditto hateful or slanderous generalizations about one cultural group, religion, nationality, or occupation.
“It was only a joke,” and “You have no sense of humor,” doesn’t excuse hateful comments. If you were genuinely misinterpreted, a quick, sincere apology may set things right. A rationalization or shouts of PC Police! will not.
Demonization of any kind is what this site stands against.
Rule #4: Don’t attack the host.
Disagree with me all you want. But attack me—or any of the other regular bloggers and reporters that WLA will be adding— and you’re gone. No warnings.
Be smart. This is my house.
Rule #5: Be yourself. Don’t impersonate other commenters.
Rule # 6: Stay on topic, at least within reason. And don’t over post.
If you somehow manage to turn every topic into an opportunity to deliver version #479 of your favorite rant, expect not to be here very long.
By the same token, if you are posting five times as much as everyone else, you are the loudmouth in the room high jacking the conversation. Dial it back
Rule #7: Don’t whine about Rules 1-6.
Comment control is not “censorship.” As Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune put it, shooing someone from the room is not the same as trying to silence him or her. Don’t like the rules here? No problem. I wish you godspeed as you take yourself and your comments elsewhere.
Rule # 8: If you break any of the rules, I will likely (operative word: likely) give you a warning—and/or delete your comment. If you persist, I’ll ban you from the site.
This doesn’t mean I don’t like you. It simply means I’ve determined that—for whatever reason— you are not willing to be part of a lively, thoughtful, decorous discussion in which all members treat the others—even those with whom they passionately disagree—as they would wish to be treated.
Rule # 9: Enforcement of the rules will be subjective.
If I’ve had enough sleep, I may be more be tolerant. If I’m over-tired and you piss me off, tolerance vaporizes without warning.
If you think I’m harder on you than the next commenter: A. You’re probably wrong. But B. Let’s just say you are right. It’s likely that you wandered on to the living room and started throwing rocks when I was in a deleting mood, or just happened to glance over. Oh, freaking well. The best way around this “she’s picking on me” issue not to throw rocks at all (metaphorically speaking).
Rule #10: In summation, to paraphrase what The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates said in his own list of commenting rules: Don’t be a jerk and we’ll be fine.
Good for you Celeste. I don’t think some people give WLA nearly the respect it deserves. Major problem issues in a major problem area that are being exposed to the light of day in an acurate, respectful manor should not be compromised by the type of flotsam that appears on this forum- and, from behind the shield of anonymity. Not exactly a class act.
I recently gave a presentation to a group here in SB called the Criminal Justice Task Force, a group led by the DA and composed of sheriffs, judges and heads of various community programs. I’ve told some of them about WLA. Although SB is a microcosm of LA we still have the same basic problems and the same confusion as to solving them and I believe there is much to be learned from how the Big City 90 mles away handles things. Keep up the good work.
Prisons and war are going to bankrupt this country. These industries dupe Americans into voting for them to get more money and more power, by telling them they’re going to protect them. Ironically, these industries are going to END America, not keep it safe. We’re putting into power an element of thugs far more evil and dangerous than the black and brown ones that the prison and war industries try to scare you with with, via mug shots on their propaganda commercial media’s nightly local news telecasts. Until Americans wake up and start addressing the dangers MOST LIKELY to happen to them, as opposed to the long shots, they will always be able to do this. It just takes common sense.
DQ said:
“I bet there are a bunch of these ex politico’s who provoke a frightened voting public to pass “get tough on crime laws”, then immediately go to work as lobbyists and mouthpieces for the Prison Industrial Complex when they leave office, making millions of dollars for thier efforts.”
Realness 101.
What, no mention of the the poor three-strike offenders who were all arrested for stealing donuts for a their starving kids.
Was my comment deleted Celeste or did you site eat it?
Your new puppy is adorable!
Thanks, Clark. And thanks, Randy, about Lily-the-puppy. I’m quite besotted (as is my son who just puppy sat).
SF, I didn’t delete it. I’ll go see what’s up.
SF, Spam doesn’t have it. And it’s not been deleted. I have no idea where it went. Repost.
Don, what’s your definition of a chickenshit drug beef? All I know is since Strike 3 crimes gone down. Seems to me the right people, by and large, are doing time.
Sure Fire Says:
November 19th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Seems to me the right people, by and large, are doing time.
…………….
Is that why when one drug dealer gets busted, another one pops up, usually on the same corner? Seems to me the right people are a little higher up the ladder, and not nearly enough effort has been made to a) find out who they are, and b) arrest them. The enforcement of drug laws in America, by and large (if I may), has been perhaps the most ineffective long term operation that any government agency (or agencies) has ever conducted. Never mind the conspiracy theories, SF. Let’s just say there are none. That drugs are a threat to society and drug laws were merely designed to make the streets safer. Even in that scenario, the war on drugs is still a colossal failure. Colossal. It is as much of a cash windfall as any government program you can think of if results are to be factored. Something has to change. And if a full probe into all who’ve profited off of the war on drugs, right up to the prison industry, is one of the solutions, so be it. Let’s let no stone go unturned.
SF: Seems to me the right people, by and large, are doing time.
Rob: Is that why when one drug dealer gets busted, another one pops up, usually on the same corner?
SF: No, we have plenty of low life drug dealers happy to take the chance to make money. I spoke on crime going down, and it is, you can’t argue that so you pose a question off topic from what I said.
Rob: Seems to me the right people are a little higher up the ladder, and not nearly enough effort has been made to a) find out who they are, and b) arrest them.
SF: So you’re ok with drug dealers in your neighborhood because they deal at the street level? What do you know about the effort to get higher ups or how many have been arrested? I kind of doubt you’re kept informed and would gripe no matter how many were put away as it is.
Rob: The enforcement of drug laws in America, by and large (if I may), has been perhaps the most ineffective long term operation that any government agency (or agencies) has ever conducted.
SF: You base that opinion on what, that there are plenty of dealers and dope still out there? Would you concede that reagrdless of your thoughts on drugs or law enforcements efforts that the enforcement of drug laws is the most difficult task of law enforcement in the past 40 years plus? That would be my opinion and if you believe that wouldn’t that make the chance for failure greater thn other law enforcement objectives?
Rob: Never mind the conspiracy theories, SF. Let’s just say there are none.
SF: We can do that for the sake of arguement but I still like Boys In The Hood.
You get a little repetitive at the end Rob but I’ll never buy into Don’s claim that it’s all one giant prison/law enforcement conspiracy aimed at the poor. I know that because in at least one of my positions I would have been invited to the meeting to put things together, “for the cause”, and that never happened.
Sure Fire Says:
November 19th, 2010 at 4:20 am
You base that opinion (that the drug war is a fiscal failure…at best) on what, that there are plenty of dealers and dope still out there?
…………
Uh, yes.
More to it than that.
I’m sure there is. Every waste of fiscal spending has several factors pro and con. But the truth is, you will not find a bigger waste of government money than the drug war, if you’re to factor in results. For every drug dealer arrested, one takes their place. Two take their place in some instances….three in some instances! I don’t know why, I’ll leave that to better minds, but the drug war has done for the prevention of consumption, distribution, and peddling of drugs what gasoline has done for fire.