I think the end of the 80s crime wave has a lot of people having this unspoken feeling that this whole thing where we arrest more people than other nations and keep them locked up much longer is the reason why crime has been reduced in much of the country. The same goes for "stop-and-frisk" a lot of older New Yorker's just assume it must be the cause of the city's lower than ever crime rates.
So, when stories come out about abuse in prisons and how awful they are, you get a lot of people just being quiet. A few very liberal people will say something, and so will a few conservative people-- but, mostly it's SILENT ENDORSEMENT of doing nothing to end this. That's what needs to stop.
If you really think that locking up this many people, especially those perpetrators of victimless crimes is "helping" I need you to join the debate and defend that postion rather than thinking "I don't know anyone in prison so it's not my problem."
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http://gawker.com/... )
Doing this to people has a very real social cost. You want to see really low crime? Stop the drug war. Focus on violent offenders and end over-crowding. Stop treating minority youth like they have no rights when they are walking around in their own neighborhoods. Get your hands off of these young people. Lasty stop making a prison term served into a scarlet letter.