Michael Jackson: They Don't Care About Us (Prison Version)
- More than 5.6 million U.S. citizens are in prison or have served time there. (Source)
- That's 1 in 37 adults living in the United States, the highest incarceration level in the world.
- Over 25% are incarcerated for non-violent drug "crimes".
- Private corporations get paid billions of tax-payers' dollars to build and maintain prisons.
- The profits of which these companies use to bribe and lobby politicians.
- 16,000 children die from hunger everyday.
- Thousands of working-class American soldiers died in the war in Iraq.
- Over 600,000 Iraqi citizens died from the war in Iraq.
- Well over half the U.S. government's federal budget goes to Pentagon spending.
- Like the prison industry, military companies, weapons manufacturers, oil companies, etc. use their profits to lobby and bribe politicians.
- The war in Iraq cost over $310 billion so far.
- The war on drugs costs over $50 billion per year.
- 14 million children in the U.S. live in food insecure households.
- Race, money and connections determine who goes to jail, rather than guilt. (See: Tyrone's story.)
Michael Jackson is right. They really don't care.
What do you think?
5 comments:
Thanks for a most awesome blog!
"We now imprison more people for drug law violations
than all of western Europe,
with a much larger population,
incarcerates for all offenses."
Ryan King,
a policy analyst at The Sentencing Project,
a group advocating sentencing reform,
said the United States has a more punitive
criminal justice system than other countries.
More People to Prison
"We send more people to prison,
for more different offenses,
for longer periods of time than anybody else,"
he said.
Drug offenders account for about 2 million
of the 7 million in prison,
on probation or parole, King said,
adding that other countries often stress treatment
instead of incarceration.
Commenting on what the prison figures show about U.S. society,
King said various social programs,
including those dealing with education,
poverty, urban development,
health care and child care,
have failed.
"There are a number of social programs
we have failed to deliver.
There are systemic failures going on,"
he said.
"A lot of these people then end up
in the criminal justice system."
Kent Scheidegger,
legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
in California, said the high prison numbers represented
a proper response to the crime problem in the United States.
Locking up more criminals has contributed to lower crime rates,
he said.
"The hand-wringing over the incarceration rate
is missing the mark," he said.
Scheidegger said the high prison population
reflected cultural differences,
with the United States having far higher crimes rates
than European nations or Japan.
"We have more crime.
More crime gets you more prisoners."
Julie Stewart,
president of the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums,
cited the Justice Department report
and said drug offenders are clogging
the U.S. justice system.
"Why are so many people in prison?
Blame mandatory sentencing laws
and the record number of nonviolent
drug offenders subject to them,"
she said.
Carol Leonard
Prison Reform is NOT soft on crime
We certainly don't care about Michael Jackson, and care even less about anything associated with his name. This criminal has purchased his way out of molestation charges four times now and just because he went to court when he was out of money and got off - we're supposed to forgive all? You do know he stiffed the lawyer who got him off those charges don't you?
If the government took our hard earned taxes, spent it on feeding and adequately educating the children of this country, perhaps the rate of persons in prison would decrease. You cannot learn if you are hungry, you cannot make a decent living if you are uneducated. If you are uneducated, you most likely will end up in jail/prison/in the system. Connect the dots Bush! From Lisa
what a crock of shit michael jackson was acussed twice
the first wouldnt testify because he was forced to accuse michael by his father and 3 jurys decided prior to a settlement michael had no charges to answer.
and the most recent which he was found innoecent of all charges
and the procecuter tried thousands of children from around the world and not one would say anything bad about michael jackson.
no evidence supported any claims from any of the accusations.
and his lawyers got paid - there is no reports or comments to say different
grow up and find true evidence before you comment. ignorant people like fujikAWA are people that cause wars and hatred. especially when real abuse goes on everyday why dont you focus on that rather than som1 who is a victim of his own upbringing and innocence in a world with a backbone of hatred and mistrust.
thank you for your retaliation "publisher"
hatred breeds more hatred...like we need more of it...
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