Transcript
Bottom Line! It's business! The military-industrial-complex. The War on Poverty. The War on drugs! Health care! War on Terror! Once Business recognized that there is profit to be had by investing in the criminal justice system they joined the enterprise. Government! State and Federal? Offer the opportunity to procure profit that is guaranteed for business as tax dollars are poured into projects created by legislation offered as solution to the dilemma of crime in society! In the early 80's? There were about four-hundred-fifty-thousand prisoners being held in local, state, and federal jails and prisons. Most of them were criminals? Charged, convicted, then sentenced for the criminal offense the perpetrated. The mass media began focusing upon crime broadcasting and reporting "on the scene" up close and personal. Allowing public access to the spectacle of actual criminal activity. Ratings soared as the focus gave more and more fuel to the fears, that the people developed, imagining that they could easily become a victim. Politicians seized upon the opportunity to exploit those fears and began to enunciate solutions through slogans. "Just say no!" and "Get tough!" "Lock em up-throw away the key!" "Make my day?" became catch-phrases that led to: longer prison terms- no parole- mandatory minimums- and the re-instillation of capital punishment! Politicians claimed that those methods would control the imagined crime wave! Obviously? The dealing with crime by the justice system would require an investment of tax dollars. But in the beginning funding what was a war? was not an issue. Few even considered the cost. In fact? Most prisons did not require an abundance of tax revenue to operate because there were not an abundance of prisoners overcrowding the system. Once business became included the number of prisoners, as well as the cost to hold them- begun to increase exponentially! In the 90's the economic boom that was fueled by the extension of credit to virtually anyone? simply gave rise to the business of selling the people on the idea that they could participate in curtailing the crime wave that was still so prevalent in society- according to the media. An entire "industry" was create-promulgated by legislators, film makers, newsrooms, and lawmen. Guns! home security! Protection devices! Lessons of self defense? Became part of the industry. It seemed that the "people" had forgotten that they were told that the laws? and the policies put into effect (in the 80s) would solve the problem of crime. But by then the industry had found a prominent place in the employment of criminal justice and that industry? Just like the military-industrial-complex would use any and all of its power to sustain itself within the system. These days? Finally? When the "economy" serves only the "super-rich" the tax revenue is now limited, and choices about how the revenue will be dispensed has cast light upon the expense of maintaining a justice system that has nothing to do with the administration of justice! For the past thirty-seven years I have been imprisoned for some horrific crimes that I did not commit! But that is an issue that is not a major concern of most people so I won't go there! (at this time) But in the past thirty-seven years? I have had the personal experience of learning (through observation and personal involvement) just what the system is all abut in America! "The land of the free" there are more prisoners locked up than in all of the rest of the first world nations combined the population of prisons (these days?) are not the same as populations "back in the day!" Before the "War on Crime?" prisons were housing "criminals" who had perpetrated crimes because they had "no regard for the law!" Today? Most of those in prison aren't "criminals" they've just perpetrated criminal activity. They are addicts! Gang-bangers! Cowards and weaklings- mis-educated and un-educated. Easily led, and afraid. Afraid of the notion of making it in the free world. They are (most of them) comfortable in prison. It's safer (in here?) than in their own neighborhoods on the streets. Many of them cannot return to the very hood's (they claim) because while they've been in prison? their "hoods?" have been taken over by "youngsters" who they know will exact revenge upon them for things they did when they were "rulin the hood." One of the reasons so many of them don't even get out of halfway houses or manage house arrest! Most neighborhoods in urban communities are much more violent than prison- and these prisoners know it! They realize that the tv show "first forty eight" is a sure example of what they may have to face in the free world. So in reality? Many of them don't mind being told what to do? And when to do it by mis-and uneducated peopled in so-called "authority" over them crime pays! It provides jobs for many incapable of finding a better paying job (with benefits) and a few who derives large profits from a taxpayer funded system It's all about: the bottom line! Transcribed: 2017-07
