soc.veterans

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:20:30 GMT, ultimauw@hotmail.com (A Texan from
Connecticut) wrote:

> The higest rate of incarceration in the entire world? In the land of
>the free?

Read this, if you want the real truth to your question answered, that
is:

http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/governmentmustcr.html

Excerpted from author Ayn Rand's 1957 book,

"Atlas Shrugged".


"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said
Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that
it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know
that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after p o w e r
and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick,
and you'd better get wise to it."

"There's no way to rule innocent men."

"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on
criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them."

"One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible
for men to live without breaking laws.* Who wants a nation of
law-abiding citizens?"

"What's there in that for anyone?"

"But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor
enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of
law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system,
Mr. Rearden, that's the game and once you understand it, you'll be
much easier to deal with."

-from "Atlas Shrugged" (1957)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Geral Sosbee writes: When the government runs out of crimes to charge
against the people, the tyrants simply secretly pass a number of civil
statutes that carry severe sanctions (against which the accused has
virtually no defenses or Constitutional protections), and then process
the accused in a largely invisible civil ' justice ' system that is
designed to lead to the imprisonment or death of the accused.

========================================================

By Randall G. Shelden

Crime benefits the crime control industry

The number of people in American prisons and jails passed 6 million
last year. That figure reflects the results of the "get tough,"
ultra-conservative crime polices that began in the early 1970s.

The effect of these policies is that the crime rate today is about the
same as it was in the early '70s. Yet during this same period the
incarceration rate has increased by more than 400 percent, while
annual expenditures on the criminal justice system went up by 1,500
percent (approaching $200 billion). The incarceration rate is now more
than 700 per 100,000 population, higher than any other country in the
world.

The rising incarceration rate has done considerable damage to the
black population, as blacks are about eight times more likely than
whites to be locked up. The incarceration rate for women (with
minorities leading the way) has increased the most, going up by more
than 700 percent over the past 25 years.

While many researchers have blamed the drug war for this sorry state
of affairs, there is another reason for the growth in imprisonment
rates, which is less obvious. I am referring to what has been called
the crime control industry. In recent years controlling crime has
become a big business, an "industry" like other industries such as
manufacturing and retail trade.

Literally thousands of companies are seeking profits in this booming
industry. The criminal justice system alone provides a steady supply
of career possibilities for police officers, prison guards, probation
officers and many more. Most of these jobs offer not only good
starting pay, but excellent benefits and a promise of future wage
increases and job security. The police, the courts and the prison
system have become huge, self-serving and self-perpetuating
bureaucracies with a vested interest in keeping crime at a certain
level. They need victims, they need criminals, they need customers,
even if they have to invent them.


Prison construction is a booming business too. An ad by an investment
group states: "While arrests and convictions are steadily on the rise,
profits are to be made -- profits from crime. Get in on the ground
floor of this booming industry now!"

In a sense, private industry and the criminal justice system cannot
afford to put a large dent in the crime problem, because it would have
such a negative impact on the industry. Two words sum it up: Politics
and economics. Politics, in the sense that elected officials want to
be re-elected, and sounding "tough on crime" gets votes; economics in
the sense of not only the money to be made by businesses but the
number of jobs created.


Part of the problem can be summed up by way of a parable. Imagine a
large river with a high waterfall. At the bottom of this waterfall
hundreds of people are working frantically trying to save those who
have fallen into the river and have fallen down the waterfall, many of
them drowning. As the people along the shore are trying to rescue as
many as possible, one individual looks up and sees a seemingly
never-ending stream of people falling down the waterfall, and he
begins to run upstream. One of his fellow rescuers hollers "Where are
you going? There are so many people who need help here." To which the
man replies, "I'm going upstream to find out why so many people are
falling into the river."

Now imagine the scene at the bottom of the waterfall represents the
criminal justice system, responding to crimes that have been committed
and dealing with both victims and offenders. If you look more closely,
you will begin to notice there are more people at the bottom of the
stream, that they work in relatively new buildings with all sorts of
modern technology and that those working here get paid rather well,
with excellent benefits. The money keeps flowing into this area, with
all sorts of businesses lined up to provide various services and
technical assistance. If you look upstream, you will find something
far different. There are not too many people, the buildings are not as
modern, nor is the technology. The people working there do not get
paid very much and their benefits are not as good as those provided
down below. Nor do they find businesses coming their way with
assistance. They are constantly having to beg for money.


A researcher, writing about our health care system, observed that
capitalism "finds it more profitable to treat illness rather than
prevent it."


He notes that "preventive care measures, such as decent sewage and
water systems, draining swamps near cities, education, sanitary food
handling, and wholistic health practices bring little in terms of
profits for pharmaceutical companies or the larger capitalist system."
The American medical industry has a financial stake in treating rather
than preventing diseases.

If we pretend for a moment that crime is a disease (in a way it is),
then this analogy makes perfect sense. Simply put, reacting to crime
is far more profitable for business and other interests than
preventing crime. Our criminal justice system is designed to fail to
reduce crime, because, although citizens would be greatly benefited
from less crime (just as citizens would greatly benefit from fewer
health problems), the crime control industry would not benefit. If you
want a lower crime rate, you must spend more money upstream. In order
to do this, however, the interests that now control the criminal
justice system would have to be convinced that there is a larger
profit to be made from investing upstream, rather than downstream.

===========================================================