Collegiate Times

Bravo Virginia way to have an effective law enforcement organization 9% above national average. You see a problem OP I see an accomplishment.

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power 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."

Welcome to the never ending list of mala prohibita.

So would you see a society with a 100% incarceration rate as having achieved the highest accomplishment of law enforcement? I should hope not, but it logically follows from your absurd suggestion that a higher prison population necessarily implies more effective law enforcement. Rather, the ideal society would be one with zero criminals and thus zero prisons. Of course, that is not realistic, but it does highlight the fact that we should be striving to reduce the crime rate and thus the incarceration rate in the populace, not increase them. One easy way to work towards that goal is to decriminalize non-violent activities such as drug usage, though that is only one of many sound arguments in opposition to drug prohibition.

Yes I would love to see a 100% incarceration rate for criminals. That would be a tremendous accomplishment for our law enforcement. If you break the law you will be punished that's a core rule for our society. If you do drugs you are breaking the law and deserve the legal ramifications.

Could somebody define non-violent. Paying a hitman is a non-violent crime; that doesn't make it right. The best way to cut the money spent on prisons is to stop spending so much on them. Bread and water for prisoners, then maybe the crime rate will go down.

The best way to cut down our prison population is to end the criminalization of drug use. Those who wish for marijuana use to remain illegal very often also think that alcohol use should remain legal. I agree that alcohol prohibition was a failure and our current system of alcohol regulation and taxation is far superior. Marijuana prohibition is the greatest failure of all, wasting billions every year, arresting hundreds of thousands of people, and accomplishing nothing in regards to the availability of marijuana in the US. Regulation will allow us to have control over potency, purity, and institute age limits for buying marijuana. It is time to get sensible and end marijuana prohibition!

We could also cut down the prison population by making all crimes legal. Just because it costs money to enforce the law doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile pursuit. We are a society of law and order if you do wrong you will be punished that's how it works.

Actually that's a fine argument for the legalization of drugs. The issue I had wasn't your message it was your argument. It's illogical to argue that we as a society legalize an illegal activity on the merit that it's a costly law to enforce. I agree that if legislated properly legalizing drugs would benefit society. I disagree that it should be done for the sole reason that it is expensive to prosecute drug offenders. You should have worked your above comment into your article it would have significantly strengthened your argument.

100% incarceration rate for criminals, not 100% incarceration rate. I don't expect you to agree, but you should at least read what the person wrote before arguing with something somebody else didn't even write. That would be a logical thing to do eh?

Same goes with prostitution. Pimps and slave trade peddlers are empowered from the fact it is illegal. Nevada is way ahead of us on this one.

"I am skeptical that a society that is so tolerant of alcohol and cigarettes should come down so hard on marijuana use and send people to prison for life without parole We should not repeal all the drug laws overnight, but we should begin with marijuana and see whether the sky falls."
-Richard Posner, Chief Judge of the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago

Paying a hitman makes one an accessory to a violent crime. You could equally say that purchasing illegal drugs supports violent criminals at some level as that's where the money ends up. The issue is, that people doing the drugs are not going to stop and the money made off of them will continue their injection into society by violent criminals. The drug itself however, is neither destructive and can often be much safer than alcohol when used in a responsible manner. The fix here is not to incarcerate people on the bottom level, but to fight the cartels that use the money for gang wars and illicit activities. The gangs, cartels, and dealers can be cut out by making a safe drug available for use under provisions to ensure users don't endanger themselves or anyone else. This is exactly the same as prohibition and as much as I disagree with most of the current policies of the white house, I'm glad to see them do something that makes sense for once and hope they continue in this direction.

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious prohibition of alcohol only made alcohol use a bigger problem - bad quality moonshine made people go blind, cops were in danger of being shot for pulling people over because they didn't want to be caught smuggling alcohol, and violent organized crime ballooned because of their willingness and ability to smuggle and bribe better than individuals could... So what is the difference with marijuana? It seems about the same to me. In the same way that bootleggers and moonshiners lost their market when alcohol prohibition ended, current drug-related gangs would be hit hard if we legalized marijuana. Who would buy from a gun or knife toting dealer if they could stop by the brightly lit and safe ABC-type store to pick it up?