Empty Our Prisons!?!

The law enforcement system in the US is out of control (we lock up the highest proportion of people in the world--and its not even close).

1 in 100 adults in this country is in jail or prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28cnd-prison.html

The US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's incarcerated population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration#Incarceration_rates_by_country

The biggest contributer to this statistic is easily the "War on Drugs"--which was never really designed to be "lost or won," only sustained.

We must end the drug war by legalizing drugs, this will drastically decrease the pressure on our prison system, free up billions annually to put more cops on the streets.

By legalizing, we'd be able to regulate the sale of the drugs and keep an eye on - and provide counseling to - drug users.

Instead of paying to fight drugs in ways that don't work - like locking people up - we could be paying for methods that do work.

We'd also immediately undercut the main source of profit for criminal groups like gangs, the mafia and the drug cartels.

Taking the first step to legalize drugs means we'd also have to change the attitude we take towards those caught up in our criminal justice system--which is extremely difficult to shake free from.

We must begin treating criminals as people who need help if they're going to reenter society as productive, law abiding people.

We must stress drug rehabilitation instead of imprisonment.

When someone is locked up, no matter the crime, they're punished by being placed in overcrowded prison cells - surrounded by other criminals - with nothing better to do than sit around and rot together.

If more emphasis was placed on making that prison sentence more of a worth-while experience (both for the prisoner and the tax-payer) by educating the prisoners, giving them the psychological help they need, teaching them valuable skills that can land them a job when they get out, we could sharply decrease the recidivism rate (the rate at which prisoners return to jail).

Also - if we want to move forward as a society - we need to change our mindset towards criminals from one of anger and hatred to one of empathy and compassion.

People who commit crimes are doing it because they need help--and we'd better help them if we want to keep them out of the judicial system where all they do is waste our money, instead of being out in the workforce making us money through the taxes they'll pay.

This brings me to another point. I believe it's wrong - and discriminatory - for employers to ask for a criminal background check from job applicants. If someone was locked up, they served their debt to society. They've paid their penalty by losing their freedom, losing the money they would've made during the time they were incarcerated and hurt and been without the people they care about in their lives.

How can we expect anyone with a criminal record to be able to move on with their lives and assimilate back into society if we chain their past mistakes to them like an anchor?

Now, don't get me wrong, there are some crimes that are so evil, so disgusting - like violent crimes such as murder and sexual assault - that we have to lock up the person in order to protect the public. But if that person is ever going to be free again, I think it's worth the time to think about how we can make their stay in the big house as valuable to their own rehabilitation as it is to the greater society's.

I'd love to hear your solutions to the prison and drug problem in the US in a comment below or a video response.

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[STROBE180]

No , thats not what I was thinking, I was thinking when is this hippy guy gonna make a shirtless vblog, yum! ok, well, how bout a tight tshirt vblog? (must he be fully clothed all the time) anyways, I agree, and lets not forget alot of PETTY TRAFFIC OFFENCES ! Some of them lead to Jailtime, We can do without a lot of them too!

[TheDailyConversation]

Haha, I'll keep that in mind... I loved your Kings of Leon vid btw. Great song.

[cavejourney]

There is a lot to be said for preventing crime in the first place. Hard on crime isn't the answer as the stats you claim clearly state.

Ever notice that countries that have free education have lower crime? Would you prefer your money go to education or prison?

[TheDailyConversation]

Great point... or free health care or prison. The list goes on and on.

[Nothiean]

God damn, I love your videos.

[TheDailyConversation]

Always appreciated, Noth.

[Gearsturfs]

anyway i love what your doing here i support you 100%, i know people who've had their past mess with them a ton, it's wrong

[Gearsturfs]

and proposing bills to make criminal background checks illegal to be used in hiring someone. it's discrimination. there are counties that banned the checkbox for felon or not, and those have a much higher rate of employment and not any higher of work related crime. maybe the unemployment rate is so high because of all the people in prison...

[Gearsturfs]

also their are laws against discriminating against felons but they are too vague on what makes the crime having to do with the job or if it's to serious. so if an employer knows about this you can get barred from the job even if they have no reason. but if they don't know and bar you for simply having a felony you can file against them and take them to court for discrimination. unfortunately this is hard to do, people need to start filing more complaints against employers

[Gearsturfs]

one thing you didn't mention is that 100% of people have committed a felony or misdemeanor in their life time

if you open your car door, ding the car next to you and drive away without finding the person and talking to them about it, you have a felony hit and run

if you are walking out of your workplace with a can of spray paint in your hand because your a painter, and a cop pulls you over, possession of that is graffiti parafenalia. boom, felony

touching a car with a sharpie, a felony

[CLK9oh3K1NG]

yu think its okay to do drugs well its really not yu try gettin be up by a dope head thats yur brother ann his friends and yur a 16 yr old female an go to jail cauz a 26 yr old hit her an dope heads dont work btw they deal they dont bring yu money dumb bitch

[aviomaster]

CCCP should have destroyed USA in 1989 - The biggest tragedy for humanity of the 20th century.

That is why GOD punish them.

[auraofgloom]

Got to agree with you on this- the war on drugs is just like prohibition and makes criminals richer while tieing up police resources.

[KINGASH1ST]

i agreewith you. I was caught with alchol above the legal limt 4 driving and i have just been turned down a job in a phone shop while im in college! a frickin phone shop!

[evilgrin07]

How bout letting prisoners pay off the U.S debt instead of letting them play basketball and lift weights so they become physically stonger to break out! I agree making them smarter for the free world but they should also do some job that will help contribute lowering the debt.

[Pr09un]

There's a better solution for the problems stated in this video, & especially for the "War on Drugs".

Shari'ah law.

No joke, it seriously works. Look it up!