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A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

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Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#41

Post by skyraider »

dsjoerg wrote: post #17

A throwaway thought: one of the (many) problems with 3-strike sentencing laws may be that the escalation curve is too quick to have the desired curbing effect. It is obvious (to me) that some kind of exponentiation would be more effective. 2x - 3x elongation per offense would be plenty harsh, harsh enough for the offender to understand it's going to be much worse each time, without it having to be life in prison. EDI…

Is it really hard to make a decision on sentencing in nonviolent crimes that you wouldn't personally lock someone in a box for?

If they're not a danger to society, they do not belong in a box.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#43

Post by coldtea »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #8
mschuster91 wrote: post #2

As an European citizen, I think such "sentences" are more resembling China, Russia or any other dictatorship, but not a first-world country. Do human rights actually mean something in the US?

You can have cute little Norwegian jails with light sentences when the population is Norwegians. But America is not Norway. We have a large underclass of people capable of destroying whole communities. Have you seen those pictures of Detroit in ruins? Crime in the 1970s got out of control. Stuff like this played a role in turning it around.

>But America is not Norway.

I wonder why that is... Perhaps this attitude has something to do about it?

>We have a large underclass of people capable of destroying whole communities.

Where "large underclass of people" means black, latino and generally poor, and "whole communities" means cozy, middle class existance.

And destroying means "stealing a wallet from a hotel" or "borrowing a van", clearly acts that should be punished with life sentences.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#45

Post by cgag »

rfnslyr wrote: post #22
spodek wrote: post #7

It's a crying shame. Normally that's an empty phrase, but it describes this. I can't imagine reading this and not feeling tears well up. No sense of what I would call humanity. From what perspective does this make the world a better place? What am I missing about being human that this fits into that I don't understand?

Does anybody else constantly live in a state of guilt? So many lives lost and wars fought just to get us to where we are, and we reap the benefits. I feel so guilty for having a good paying job in the city. I'm not adding any value to the world, none at all. I tinker with a few codes every day and make silly amounts of money, when there's people struggling to put food on the table working 18 hour days. I need to do s…

I feel guilty for doing basically anything that isn't actively working to fix our horrible justice system.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#46

Post by protomyth »

BorisMelnik wrote: post #6

this is so ridiculous. 3 strikes laws are meant for murderers who just don't know how to stop carrying guns, not these people.

There are serious money interests (both union and private companies) in having as many jails as possible.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#47

Post by thaumasiotes »

My thoughts on the best and the worst:

> Anthony Jackson has a sixth-grade education and worked as a cook. He was convicted of burglary for stealing a wallet from a Myrtle Beach hotel room when he was 44 years old. According to prosecutors, he woke two vacationing golfers as he entered the room and stole a wallet, then pretended to be a security guard and ran away. Police arrested him when he tried to use the stolen credit card at a pancake house. [...] Because of two prior convictions for burglary, Jackson was sentenced to mandatory life without parole under South Carolina's three-strikes law.

Emphasis mine. I can't get too worked up about a system that sentences this guy to life in prison. What would be the point of letting him out? He knew he wasn't supposed to walk into other people's hotel rooms and take their wallets. At what point does society get to tell people "you know what, knock it off"?

> After serving two years in prison during his mid-twenties for inadvertently killing someone during a bar fight, Aaron Jones turned his life around. He earned an electrical technician degree, married, became an ordained reverend, and founded the Perfect Love Outreach Ministry. Years later, Aaron was hired to renovate a motel in Florida, and was living in an employee-sponsored apartment with two other workers, one of whom had a truck that was used as a company vehicle by all the co-workers. Jones decided to drive this truck home to Louisiana to visit his wife and four children. When Aaron's co-worker woke up to find his truck missing, he reported it stolen. Aaron was pulled over by police while driving the truck.

I don't understand this one at all. Shouldn't the truck owner have testified on his behalf? Declined to press charges?

I made a cursory effort to look up the case itself, but I have no idea how to do that.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#48

Post by evincarofautumn »

rfnslyr wrote: post #22
spodek wrote: post #7

It's a crying shame. Normally that's an empty phrase, but it describes this. I can't imagine reading this and not feeling tears well up. No sense of what I would call humanity. From what perspective does this make the world a better place? What am I missing about being human that this fits into that I don't understand?

Does anybody else constantly live in a state of guilt? So many lives lost and wars fought just to get us to where we are, and we reap the benefits. I feel so guilty for having a good paying job in the city. I'm not adding any value to the world, none at all. I tinker with a few codes every day and make silly amounts of money, when there's people struggling to put food on the table working 18 hour days. I need to do s…

You are a waste of space. But committing suicide is so boring—I don’t recommend it. You are going to have to figure out the point you want your life to have. So quit complaining on the internet about your privileged guilt, save your silly amounts of money for a while, then spend it executing your vision. The best any of us can hope to do is to mean something to somebody.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#49

Post by coldtea »

sukuriant wrote: post #25

It says that there is no hope for these individuals. ... Why? Why can't they be brought out of their situation? I know some have been in there for 22 years already; but, why can't they be helped from this? I just... it doesn't make sense to me

It's because of what they call "law" in these there parts. It makes it nearly impossible for them to get freed.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#50

Post by bilbo0s »

guelo wrote: post #28
a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have cute little Norwegian jails with light sentences when the population is Norwegians. But America is not Norway. We have a large underclass of people capable of destroying whole communities. Have you seen those pictures of Detroit in ruins? Crime in the 1970s got out of control. Stuff like this played a role in turning it around.

What is it about Norwegians that's different from this "large underclass"? Just come out and say it.

I don't think he likes black people or Hispanics.

To be fair... that makes him no different than a lot of Americans. Though he may be in the minority here on HN.

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