Nearly 6 out 10 people behind bars nationwide are black or Hispanic.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

This is something I'd like to see addressed by our Democratic leaders.

[LostinVA]

1. Agreed -- it's a disgrace

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Yes, it is.

It's also a real and ongoing problem with our society that needs to be fixed. Blacks and Hispanics largely vote Democratic. It seems fair to expect the Democrats to bring up the issue and work for a solution.

[RogueSpirit]

3. What is the solution?

You can't determine what a solution is until you determine what the problem is.

Are you suggesting that the courts systematically prosecute minorities unfairly or are you suggesting that minorities are more likely to commit crimes?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I'm suggesting that tax money be spent to learn what the problems are

And that solutions be sought.

It's not one thing, it's several things that need to be addressed. They vary from economic and educational opportunities to the fact that, yes, in some places minorities who commit the same crimes as white people, are sentenced to prison more often than white people.

It's many things and there needs to be a starting point if we're ever to reach the end.

[RogueSpirit]

9. I think there are sufficient indicators to determine...

What the problems are. True, poverty creates crime, but you can't just bring people out of poverty without serious counseling. A significant part of poverty is the mindset, and not just the money. I'll agree that there could be a significant increase in opportunities, however, there also has to be a shift in the thinking patterns so that people will take the opportunities.

Also, in regards to immigrants, very few first generation immigrants live an impoverished lifestyle. True, their income bracket puts them below the poverty level, but they don't have the mindset and still see everything as an opportunity. Theres the running joke about 20 Mexicans living in a shack, but more often than not, that family dynamic means they take care of each other and work together for a decent existence.

[VP505]

5. I would be

willing to bet that if this country seriously addressed poverty, not just provided lip service as has done in the past that statistic would change radically.

[Elspeth]

17. I agree with you.

Many of these "criminals" are non-violent drug offenders and they either grow up in neighborhoods where poverty and drugs are rampant, or they don't have the money to get "community service" instead of hard time.

[New Era]

6. What's wrong wit dat?

Its dem dangerus minoratays makin all the trouble. :sarcasm:

Probably a combination of poverty and racism in our court system.

[Toots]

7. That means we have more people of color in prison than any other country has

total.. America has 2.5 million people in prison and the next largest amount is China with 1.5 million even though they have considerably more people. That means we have more minorities in prison than China has prisoners period...Ain't America Great???

[RogueSpirit]

10. China keeps their prison population down, but

I wonder how many of the convicts are executed?

[Toots]

14. I doubt very many, I think they are just a more lawful people

Either because of fear of their government or respect for Law. I suspect the latter, at least that was my impression of the people I met in Southeast Asia. They weren't Chinese but they lived bordering China and knew the people well..It was my impression that most people in the orient had more respect than I see from the American people..Respect for culture and for others and for the land..

[RogueSpirit]

18. What culture do they respect?

The Chinese culture? I believe we have a much more mixed culture than the Chinese. It's easy to respect one or two cultures, but when you have to interact with dozens of them, daily it becomes difficult. Inadvertent mistakes can be construed as bigotry.

[WinkyDink]

8. And a GREAT side-effect for Republicans? Then the convicts can't vote!

Or is it a CAUSE?

[BrotherBuzz]

13. Sasha Abramsky, author of "Conned", demonstrates it's by design

Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House

by Sasha Abramsky

More than four million Americans, mainly poor, black, and Latino, have lost the right to vote. In some states, as many as a third of all African American men cannot take part in the most basic right of a democracy. The reason? Felony disfranchisement laws, which remove the vote from people while they are in prison or on parole, and, in several states, for the rest of their lives.

Award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky takes us on a journey through disfranchised America, detailing the revival of antidemocratic laws that came of age in the post–Civil War segregationist South, and profiling Americans who are fighting to regain the right to vote. From the Pacific Northwest to Miami, with stops in a dozen states in between, Abramsky shows for the first time how this growing problem has played a decisive role in elections nationwide—from state races all the way up to the closely contested 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

With a new national Right to Vote campaign having just helped to overturn Iowa’s felony disfranchisement laws and similar campaigns under way in eight other states, this book comes at a time when many Americans have begun to recognize these laws as a fundamental threat to democracy.

* In Alabama and several other Southern states, where power has shifted decisively toward the Republican Party in recent years, as many as a third of all African American men may be disfranchised.

* In Virginia, over 300,000 are without the right to vote.

* Between half and three-quarters of a million Floridians are voteless because of past felony convictions. Had 1 percent of these individuals voted in 2000, splitting sixty-forty for Gore, the Democrats would have won the White House.

* In Washington, where the 2004 governor’s race came down to a handful of votes, almost 200,000 are voteless.

[porphyrian]

11. Institutionalized Racism/Classism and the Prison Industrial Complex

The penal aspect of our judicial system is a business and that aspect that puts people there is biased against minorities and the poor. The system needs to be fixed, really fixed, not just patched as it has been since I've been born, if we ever want anyone to take it seriously again. Hell, the President and Vice President of the United States completely ignore it when it suits them, rich white males that they are. I want what they made me pledge over and over again - liberty and justice for all. That cannot happen until we repair our horribly broken system.

[Blackhatjack]

12. In 2003 Private Prison Industry was $10 bil business, needing more incarcerated to up profits...

and this statistical analysis is an embarrassment for a country that long prided itself on upholding the rule of law and quest for justice.

[irislake]

15. Tragically in Canada

a disproportionate number of our First Nations People are in our jails. The suicide rate among their young people is incredibly high. It's utterly shameful. I'm embarrassed for my country. Otherwise I would make a nasty crack about your country incarcerating so many non-whites.

Paris Hilton? Naw -- I won't go there. Not a joking matter.

[aikoaiko]

16. You said her name, now you must look into her eyes.

mwa-hahahahahahahaha

[irislake]

19. As a mother of three daughters and three granddaughters

I can only think that -- yes -- I messed up as a mother but that poor young woman just does not know what life is all about and she'll be lucky if she ever finds out. Her parents seem to have flunked parenting 101.

And this is only Paris in her 20s. What chance has she got of escaping the unreality? Is it better to be stupid rich Paris Hilton than a poor Native Woman in jail living a life she sees as hopeless?

Anne Morrow Lindburg said, "If suffering along taught, all the world would be wise." True. But who would give up lessons learned from suffering whether or not you believe that spiritual growth is important?

It's little consolation and no wonder the First Nations People in Canada have decided they are mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more but at least they know they have the moral high ground.

It matters to me whether or not I inhabit the moral high ground, which in relation to them I don't. So maybe it IS some consolation to them that they have behaved better from the beginnings of our history in North America.

One thing some of these rich celebrities seem to share with the Native Americans who have lost hope is refuge in drugs and alcohol. Makes you wonder, don't it?

[Zavulon]

21. That was evil.

Hilarious, but evil. :hi:

[RogueSpirit]

20. Do you have a link to the article or study?

I am in the middle of a discussion with a family member who is right of center and I would love to be able to show him this statistic. Can you provide a link?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. Here you go

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4925881.html

Sorry for the delay I was out.

[RogueSpirit]

23. thanks