1 in 100

There was a great report in the New York Times yesterday about how 1 out of every 100 U.S.adults is now behind bars. You can read it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28cnd-prison.html?hp

We incarcerate 1% of our adults now, a higher percentage than any other country in the world.

How have we possibly gotten to this point?

I'm not talking about 'prisoner's rights' here, where the government is being sued for a not serving vegetarian meals, by some bozo who doesn't have the fortitude to move his meat away from the peas. I'm talking about how they get there in the first place.

Here in central Iowa we are spending millions on a new jail because the criminal population is overflowing our capacity to incarcerate everybody.

We throw people in jail for years in this country for stunningly trivial offenses. There were originally three ways to go to jail at the federal level - now there are over 4,500.

Is it the Federal sentencing guidelines? Because they have NOT resulted in what they were intended for, and now we are stuck with them. The U.S. Supreme Court has to rule on the fairness of these over and over again.

Is it ‘three strikes you’re out?’ There are people in jail now for most of the rest of their life because they were hungry and metaphorically stole some bread three times, Sort of like Les Miserables.

Is it because people don’t take any personal responsibility anymore? A lot of people in jail were never taken to church as a child, never taught good manners, and there were never any consequences for their bad behavior as they were growing up.

Is it the lack of gun control?

Or, is it because our society is simply fed up with crime, and it’s easier to throw people in jail forever, out of sight, out of mind, and let’s just forget about rehabilitation?

Because folks, it costs you and I a lot of money; almost $24,000 per year per person behind bars. Last year, we spent $49 billion dollars nationally keeping people in jail, and it just goes up every year.

What do you think? There is a survey to the right. Please vote and let me know your opinion. If you have any other ideas, leave me a comment by clicking on that little underlined comments thingy below, and I’ll add it to the survey.

Have a great weekend! And don’t do anything bad, because your butt will get hauled to jail!

I woke up!

Rights Boy has finally woken up from a long winter’s nap. And there is still eight inches of snow on the ground outside! When is this global warming thing going to kick in around here?

Today, Rights Boy wants to talk about a couple of his good friends.

First, I’d like to introduce you to Gul DuCurry – pride of the Cardassian Empire.

Don’t mess with Gul DuCurry; if you run into her in a dark alley, slowly turn the other way and run, because she will kick your ass!

Her nickname is Golda Curry, and you can see her demonstrating martial arts and coordinating competitions at celebrAsian, Iowa’s 6th Annual Asian Heritage Festival, on May 17th at the State Capitol East Complex. For more information, check out the site http://www.celebrasian.org/.



Second, please meet Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean hangs out on the Des Moines Register’s web site, http://www.desmoinesregister.com/, commenting on news stories and blogs. He’s sort of a Will Rogers, Mark Twain kind of guy; he can’t come up with anything original himself, but he likes to write short zingers at others.

He is often featured in the ‘Reader Comment’ sidebars in the printed version of the Register, recently on topics including the Drake Men’s basketball team, the endless Iowa winter, Urbandale pool situation, bike trails, and Erin Crawford’s garden.


So, summarizing me and my friends:

Rights Boy blogs here,

Mike Burgher writes letters to Editors, Congress, and anyone else who still accepts his mail,

Mr. Clean writes commentary on the Register’s website,

Gul DuCurry kicks your ass.

Any questions?

Click on the little underlined comment thingy below, and leave me a comment!