Law in Contemporary Society

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DeathOfUSPrisonSystem 5 - 29 Jan 2008 - Main.NicoleMedham
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I thought we quickly moved through an incredibly complex topic yesterday. Maybe we'll talk more about it this afternoon. But challenging the Prison Industrial Complex is not an new idea, although it's often characterized as radical. Is it though? Will it ever fit on a 3x5 card? The prison system and "criminal justice" generally in the American sense is entangled in so many of our social woes, fears and deeply structural inequities.
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 Of course, the other possibility is that the prisons aren't failing at all - they just aren't aiming at correction. Are prisons just a place to throw away segments of society that might be a problem for institutions in power?

-- ErikaKrystian - 29 Jan 2008

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The idea that the prisons aren't necessarily failing but just aren't really trying to correct and rehabilitate prisoners is an idea that I agree with. Often times, those that come out of jail and are ready for a new start have their enthusiasm curbed by society's reaction to them. Many of them aren't able to "start anew" and feel disenfranchised with the whole system--which sometimes leads them back to behavior that put them into prison in the first place.

The war on drugs is a huge crock in my opinion, and generally serves as a less clandestine way to continue to put more black males in jail. The differences in the punishments that white and black drug users receive (ie, the differences in sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine) lead me to no other conclusion.

-- NicoleMedham - 29 Jan 2008

 
 
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Revision 5r5 - 29 Jan 2008 - 17:02:40 - NicoleMedham
Revision 4r4 - 29 Jan 2008 - 07:44:41 - ErikaKrystian
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