Friday, June 13, 2008

Those Without Sin

What is it that makes us want to so regulate people's conduct that we have put over 2% of the population in the criminal system - in jail, on probation, on parole. There are 7,200,000 in this situation now; there were one-fourth that number in 1980. Has the population quadrupled in that time? Many of those in the system are there because of our stupid "War on Drugs", which seems to be a boondoggle for some, a disaster for the country.

We're spending $45 billion a year on the current system. Sure, there are nasty people who should be locked up. But couldn't some of that $45 billion be used for more productive uses?