Community Chat

[gertrudecloset]

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@gardenman wrote:

In my younger days, you would be an outcast if you committed a major crime. You'd spend decades in prison and be shunned when you got released. Criminal behaviour was not tolerated. These days there are fewer negative social consequences.

A study done by the DOJ in 2016 showed that the average time served for all criminal acts overall was 2.6 years and the median time until release was 1.3 years. Murderers served an average of 13.4 years. Violators served an average of 2.2 years for non-murder violent assaults (including rape.)

There have been efforts to destigmatize criminals and there are lots of programs to help ex-cons, so the social cost of committing crimes is less. You come out of prison these days and you're apt to be given an apartment, a job, and even a free education in some cases. "We want to give them a hand up so they won't repeat." Yeah, how's that working out?

Now in some parts of the country, you can steal up to $900+ in merchandise and face no consequences. Oddly enough stores are closing in those areas. Go figure. Back in Wilson Goode's days as Philly mayor, he announced that car thieves wouldn't be arrested or prosecuted until after they'd stolen two cars. Suffice to say car thefts increased dramatically.

We've largely removed the negative consequences for wrongdoing these days. If anything, we're almost rewarding criminals for breaking the law. When you look at the arrest history of some of these guys/gals you wonder, "How on Earth are they out of prison?" 

Should we stigmatize criminals? Maybe a little. A little social pressure on people not to commit crimes might just be an improvement. Maybe a little stigmatizing isn't such a bad thing. What we're doing now sure isn't working.

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@gardenman excellent insight.  Do you know why they are trying to de-incentivize crime?  

1.  Costs associated with housing the incarcerated

2.  The U.S. is the most industralized nation in the world with such a high rate of incarceration.  No other country jails more people than we do.

3.  Rehabilitation doesn't work (look at recidivism rates)

4.  Stats say that our criminal justice system doesn't play fair *think* (you know what I'm say'n.....)

This is not to say we should give up, though.  I think we need a new approach.  I won't bring it up here, as it would be considered inhumane.......

[hckynut]

Hi @gertrudecloset 

Don't think I want to go back to Adam and Eve, as that is ancient. If what I am seeing on the media videos were happening in the '50s/'60s/'70's/'80's/'90's, in broad daylight in busy public places?

As I said, I must have sleep walked through the decades above. Someone forcing their will?  Of course their were/are. But always been like that in numbers and busy places in daylight. Not in my world, and I ran in some wild ones until I hit my '40's.

hckynut 

[Porcelain]

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@hckynut wrote:

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@Porcelain wrote:

You guys realize people (mostly women but not exclusively)  have been assaulted like this for forever, right? This is not new. It's very ancient.

It is wonderful that we are outraged nowadays and that something is being done about it. It was not always so. Now we have video proof of many of the old crimes that used to be 'he said she said' and were trivialized and went unacknowledged and unpunished.

@Porcelain 

No I do not realize this because it is not the same. Maybe where you live this has been common place in "ancient" times, but not here.

Stories I have read and seen on media decades ago, in big cities, this was not happening in broad daylight, and within a crowded public transportation vehicle.

I get tired of hearing this type hype, because that is what it is, hype. Then there is the "it's always been happening, but now with new technology, we can see it".

No it is neither in my opinion. It is the erosion of what used to be a more caring human race. Think Flight 93!  

You may be older than my 82 years, but I do not consider myself "ancient". And if these things were happening? I must have sleep walked through much of my daylight hour decades in busy public places. 

Do agree most victims are female, but that's it.

hckynut 

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When did you see this happen in front of your actual eyes in public? I thought this thread was about a news story. If you saw someone being attacked did you help them?

[gertrudecloset]

@gardenman  What say yee about the following:

What the criminal justice system costs you.

5 facts behind America's high incarceration rate

By Drew Kann, CNN

Updated 3:50 PM ET, Sun April 21, 2019

Year after year, the United States beats out much larger countries -- India, China -- and more totalitarian ones --Russia and the Philippines -- for the distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world.

According to a report by the Bureau of Justice Systems in 2018, (BJS), nearly 2.2 million adults were held in America's prisons and jails at the end of 2016. That means for every 100,000 people residing in the United States, approximately 655 were behind bars.

If the US prison population were a city, it would be the tenth largest city. 

But after decades of explosive growth, there are signs that the country is turning the corner on mass incarceration.  $80 billion a year is used to incarcerate, which is a far cry more than the money we spend on education which is $68 billion a year.

Clearly, this issue is complicated.

To better understand who the system impacts, it requires looking beyond the big numbers. Here are five key facts that bring the scope of the criminal justice system into focus.

more at CNN /com  Search the header above for the full details.  You may know some of this, you might not know or understand any of it.

[gertrudecloset]

@hckynut  No, I don't think you understood what I was saying.  I'm speaking about the fact, that people do awful things to one another.  We have always done so and it will always be so.  Of course, since the "dawn of man" like I stated.  It's what humans do.

You don't have to be 80 to know this is a fact.  It's called the HUMAN CONDITION.

[SharkE]

Ladies & gents believe I'd get a gun.  I live in Tx and my friends carry a gun under their jackets and have a concealed weapon permit they take to walmart with them

In our church 2 men have handguns concealed in waist band where the average person cannot see them.

get proactive in Philly

[gertrudecloset]

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@SharkE wrote:

Ladies & gents believe I'd get a gun.  I live in Tx and my friends carry a gun under their jackets and have a concealed weapon permit they take to walmart with them

In our church 2 men have handguns concealed in waist band where the average person cannot see them.

get proactive in Philly

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I'd appreciate it if you left out topics that could cause rhis thread to go awry.  Pennsylvania and Texas are two different states with separate problems @SharkE .

[gertrudecloset]

In a 2019 study, the Texas Department of Safety reported more than 14,000 rapes. Charges resulted in less than a quarter of those reported cases, or 23.7%. DPS reported 2,200 were arrested on the charge year, but did not specify how many resulted in criminal penalties for suspected offenders.

Volume
In 2018, the total number of sexual assault
incidents reported in Texas was 19,816. This
represented a 9.4% increase when compared to
2017. These incidents involved 20,592 victims (up
9.8% from 2017) and 20,532 offenders (up 9.4%
from 2017).
2018 Sexual Assault Quick Stats
2018 2017 % Change
Number of Incidents 19,816 18,112 9.4%
Number of Victims 20,592 18,750 9.8%
Number of Offenders 20,532 18,774 9.4%

Victim’s Relationship

The most significant number of sexual assault
victims (in relation to the offender) were: female
acquaintances (17.6%), other female family
members (11.7%), female friends (7.9%),
girlfriends (7.1%), female strangers (7.1%),

As if sexual assault against women is a one state issue....it's not.  

[Beth-QVC]

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