is THIS tyranny?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.

The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London.

The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.)

Efforts to combat illegal drugs play a major role in explaining long prison sentences in the United States as well. In 1980, there were about 40,000 people in American jails and prisons for drug crimes. These days, there are almost 500,000.

Those figures have drawn contempt from European critics. "The U.S. pursues the war on drugs with an ignorant fanaticism," said Stern of King's College.

Many American prosecutors, on the other hand, say that locking up people involved in the drug trade is imperative, as it helps thwart demand for illegal drugs and drives down other kinds of crime. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, for instance, has fought hard to prevent the early release of people in federal prison on crack cocaine offenses, saying that many of them "are among the most serious and violent offenders."

Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.

The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London.

The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.)

Efforts to combat illegal drugs play a major role in explaining long prison sentences in the United States as well. In 1980, there were about 40,000 people in American jails and prisons for drug crimes. These days, there are almost 500,000.

Those figures have drawn contempt from European critics. "The U.S. pursues the war on drugs with an ignorant fanaticism," said Stern of King's College.

Many American prosecutors, on the other hand, say that locking up people involved in the drug trade is imperative, as it helps thwart demand for illegal drugs and drives down other kinds of crime. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, for instance, has fought hard to prevent the early release of people in federal prison on crack cocaine offenses, saying that many of them "are among the most serious and violent offenders."

Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher.

The US imprisons six times more people than China per capita, that is a really shameful statistic.
 
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/03/22/...es-after-roadside-cavity-search-of-two-women/

one of the troopers, Kelley Helleson, who left the courthouse after testifying Friday, is charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of official oppression.

She was seen on dashcam video searching the body cavities — front and back — of the two women along an exit ramp of the Bush Turnpike in Irving last summer.

The Texas Department of Public Safety fired Helleson.

CBS-11 has learned the other trooper in the case, David Farrell, is charged with theft after one of the women said her prescription bottle of the painkiller hydrocodone was missing after the search.

so now we'll see what happens next. will the administrative investigations find no wrongdoing or will the DA dismiss because of some BS reason like 'no criminal intent'.
 
are you suggesting that they should have refused and resisted?
Yes...that's exactly what I'm saying. According to the victim, when she asked about the rubber glove, she was told 'don't worry about it'.

I would've absolutely refused, and asked for my lawyer.

As it turns out, the cop has been fired. Now a huge lawsuit will be awarded.
 
That search was illegal...period.

Attorney Charles Soechting Jr. said his father was a DPS trooper and he has great respect for the agency. "But in this instance they have completely failed the citizens of Texas," Soechting said.
Soechting said a records request to DPS produced no policy that allows for cavity search of any suspect in public.
"What we're dealing with is a Class C misdemeanor. It does not justify any type of pat-down, let alone an invasive search of cavities of women," he said


.
 
Yes...that's exactly what I'm saying. According to the victim, when she asked about the rubber glove, she was told 'don't worry about it'.

I would've absolutely refused, and asked for my lawyer.

As it turns out, the cop has been fired. Now a huge lawsuit will be awarded.
and when the cop ends up charging them for resisting, obstruction, or worse has to shoot them?
 
U.S. courts have a structural bias against “guilty” verdicts, but when it comes to Facebook data the situation is reversed: Social media activity is more readily used to convict you in a court of law than to defend you.

That’s because prosecutors generally have an easier time than defense attorneys getting private information out of Facebook and other social networks, as highlighted in an ongoing Portland murder case. In that case, the defense attorney has evidence of a Facebook conversation in which a key witness reportedly tells a friend he was pressured by police into falsely incriminating the defendant.

Facebook rebuffed the defense attorney’s subpoena seeking access to the conversation, citing the federal Stored Communications Act, which protects the privacy of electronic communications like e-mail – but which carves out an exemption for law enforcement, thus assisting prosecutors. “It’s so one-sided … they cooperate 110 percent anytime someone in the government asks for information,” one Oregon attorney told the Portland Oregonian, citing a separate case in which Facebook withheld conversations that could have disproved a rape charge, but turned over the same conversations when the prosecution demanded them.

Or is it simply that social media has more incriminating evidence on it than evidence which is applicable to defense (alibis being pretty much the only thing I can think of). Your example of a single case supporting your argument is ridiculous, post something involving a larger sample size.

The US imprisons six times more people than China per capita, that is a really shameful statistic.

Do we simply have a more vigilant police force? Perhaps our culture encourages more crime than the Chinese culture? Maybe they aren't using their resources to fund prisons and the like, and instead simply save money by letting the lesser crimes go?

Assuming you support the view of the article quoted, it's a little hard to believe the U.S. system is in the wrong because, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Europe thinks so!"
 
Or is it simply that social media has more incriminating evidence on it than evidence which is applicable to defense (alibis being pretty much the only thing I can think of). Your example of a single case supporting your argument is ridiculous, post something involving a larger sample size.
or you could wait until you've been on the board for awhile or research most of my posts and increase the sample size through historical research. welcome to the board
 
or you could wait until you've been on the board for awhile or research most of my posts and increase the sample size through historical research. welcome to the board

I don't get it, do you quote many more singular cases? Doesn't sound like evidence to me. Apologies for not going through your (over) 22,500 posts looking for data on social networking. If I recall correctly, though, the burden of proof lies on the one who asserts.

Let me help - goo. gl/oEnSg - this link provides information relating to defensive use of social media and your rights pertaining to it, from a credible law firm. This site explicitly outlines how defendants can not only protect their data, but can use it for their benefit in court.

Thanks for the welcome!
 
and when the cop ends up charging them for resisting, obstruction, or worse has to shoot them?
Given that what the cop did was against the law, and has now been terminated as a result....no..I wouldn't be charged with anything. You aren't reading my links.
 
Given that what the cop did was against the law, and has now been terminated as a result....no..I wouldn't be charged with anything. You aren't reading my links.
I posted your links. you're not thinking through this in reality. ON THE SCENE, what do you think is going to happen to the two women if they refused to be searched and resisted?
 
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