heartbreaking.

A 26-year-old secret could free inmate - Yahoo! News

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But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.

This is getting quite interesting!


What's next?

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Something that bothers you, just flush it off and wipe the remaining patiently. RS-Stanislas

The USA has an incarceration rate four times higher than China. All those morons who were hanging off the Golden Gate Bridge should protest that instead of Free Tibet, moron Deadheads.

Because in China they don't respect people's civil rights. They are afraid to break the law because they will end up in a hole in the ground for 30 years, or they will be shot and their family sent a bill for the bullet. That is what people are protesting.

That being said, I think our criminal justice system is broken in many respects. However, if you consider the number of people incarcerated, there aren't really that many cases where people are in jail for something they didn't do. You hear about nearly every one. A lot of these cases involve a "witness" who says they saw "X" kill "Y". What jury wouldn't convict? Of course, later it turns out the witness lied, or DNA exonerates people. In the US we are far too easy on people. There is a crime epidemic. It has to do with moral decay, and political correctness, IMHO

In the southwest (I think AZ, but I can't remember...saw it on the news yesterday), they don't prosecute you for bringing marijuana in from Mexico unless you have over 500 lbs. The system is so bogged down, they can't put anymore people through it.

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AUC Class of '99
Bored certified
I may be a jerk, but I'm a Jedi jerk like my father.

Some say I look like Buzz Lightyear....
(They're right)

DISCLAIMER: I have no financial stake in ValueMD, or any medical school.

The US justice system has some serious problems. If you compare the US to Canada, Australia, and the EU, in those latter three places its nearly impossible to go to prison.

That was a well thought out reply George. When Teratos remarked on your comment about the US vs China, it all of a sudden became US vs. Australia. Well, I'm convinced then.

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You forgot the EU and Canada. China is a police state with few freedoms, I was using it as an example to highlight the problems with the US justice system. The EU, Canada, and Australia are places that are more similar to the US, that is why I used them for comparison purposes.

I'm not sure I understand the comparison. Crime tends to be low under totalitarian regimes. Punishment tends to be swift, sometimes brutal, and often not fair. We strive to be fair in the US, and that makes things very slow.

You have to dig deeper than just a few statistics. Are there more people in prison in the US because we are just harsh, or is the crime rate actually higher? What are the reasons the crime rate is higher? Is it because of the economy? A failed education system? A government "sanctioned" breakdown of the basic family unit in inner cities where the crime rates tend to be highest? Do the other countries have these same problems?

__________________
AUC Class of '99
Bored certified
I may be a jerk, but I'm a Jedi jerk like my father.

Some say I look like Buzz Lightyear....
(They're right)

DISCLAIMER: I have no financial stake in ValueMD, or any medical school.

If you compare the US justice system to places in Europe, Canada, Oz and New Zealand, our system is harsh. That is why I was using China in the comparison, because China has a bad rep.

In Australia, people pay fines rather than go to prison for a lot of offenses. Then again you also have a higher rate of violent crime in the US. 7-11s in Australia rarely suffer armed robberies.

our population is also greatly higher then these countries, and i think that plays a large part in things. its hard to control 300million+ people

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But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.