#Political System Reform

[alwaysbewoke]

[travelingtwentysomething]

You know what's funny? The minute people start aiming higher and taking out the powerful and wealthy and "elite", they're going to change the gun laws. Because their goal has always been for us to stay fighting each other instead of looking towards them as the real threat to our life, liberty, and freedom.

[reasonsforhope]

"Expanding freedom and opportunity to millions

Over a decade ago, researchers, policymakers, journalists, and individuals and family members harmed by prisons and jails helped define American mass incarceration as one of the fundamental policy challenges of our time. In the years since, policymakers and voters in red, blue, and purple jurisdictions have advanced criminal justice reforms that safely reduced prison and jail populations, expanding freedom and opportunities to tens of millions of Americans.

After nearly forty years of uninterrupted prison population growth, our collective awareness of the costs of mass incarceration has fundamentally shifted–and our sustained efforts to turn the tide have yielded meaningful results.

Since its peak in 2009, the number of people in prison has declined by 24 percent (see figure 1). The total number of people incarcerated has dropped 21 percent since the 2008 peak of almost 2.4 million people, representing over 500,000 fewer people behind bars in 2022. Absent reforms, more than 40 million more people would have been admitted to prison and jail over this period. The number of people on probation and parole supervision has also dropped 27 percent since its peak in 2007, allowing many more people to live their lives free from onerous conditions that impede thriving and, too often, channel them back into incarceration for simple rule violations.1

"Absent reforms, more than 40 million more people would have been admitted to prison and jail over this period. [2008 to 2022]"

Make no mistake: mass incarceration and the racial and economic disparities it drives continue to shape America for the worse. The U.S. locks up more people per capita and imposes longer sentences than most other countries. Nearly 1-in-2 adults in the U.S. have an immediate family member that has been incarcerated, with lifelong, often multigenerational, consequences for family members’ health and financial stability. Yet the past decade of successful reforms demonstrate that we can and must continue to reduce incarceration. These expansions of freedom and justice–and the millions of people they have impacted–help define what is at stake as public safety has reemerged as a dominant theme in American public and political conversation.

...We have a robust body of research built over decades showing that jail stays and long prison sentences do not reduce crime rates. And fortunately, we have an extensive and expanding body of research on what does work to reduce crime and keep communities safe. The evidence is clear: our focus must be on continuing and accelerating reductions in incarceration.

Black imprisonment rate drops by nearly half

People directly impacted by incarceration and other leaders in the criminal justice reform movement have persistently called out how the unequal application of policies such as bail, sentencing, and parole (among others) drive massive racial disparities in incarceration. The concerted effort to reduce our prison population has had the most impact on the group that paid the greatest price during the rise of mass incarceration: Black people, and particularly Black men.

The Black imprisonment rate has declined by nearly 50 percent since the country’s peak imprisonment rate in 2008 (see figure 2). And between 1999 and 2019, the Black male incarceration rate dropped by 44 percent, and notable declines in Black male incarceration rates were seen in all 50 states. For Black men, the lifetime risk of incarceration declined by nearly half from 1999 to 2019—from 1 in 3 Black men imprisoned in their lifetime to 1 in 5.

While still unacceptably high, this reduction in incarceration rates means that Black men are now more likely to graduate college than go to prison, a flip from a decade ago. This change will help disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty for generations to come.

Expanding safety and justice together

The past decade-plus of incarceration declines were accompanied by an increase in public safety. From 2009-2022, 45 states saw reductions in crime rates, while imprisoning fewer people, with crime falling faster in states that reduced imprisonment than in states that increased it.

This is in keeping with the extensive body of research showing that incarceration is among the least effective and most expensive means to advance safety. Our extremely long sentences don’t deter or prevent crime. In fact, incarcerating people can increase the likelihood people will return to jail or prison in the future. Public safety and a more fair and just criminal system are not in conflict.

Strong and widespread support for reform

We have also seen dramatic progress on the public opinion front, with a clear understanding from voters that the criminal justice system needs more reform, not less. Recent polling shows that by a nearly 2 to 1 margin respondents prefer addressing social and economic problems over strengthening law enforcement to reduce crime. [In simpler terms: people are twice as likely to prefer non-law-enforcement solutions to crimes.]

Nearly nine-in-ten Black adults say policing, the judicial process, and the prison system need major changes for Black people to be treated fairly. Seventy percent of all voters (see figure 3) and 80 percent of Black voters believe it’s important to reduce the number of people in jail and prison. Eighty percent of all voters, including nearly three-fourths of Republican voters, support criminal justice reforms.

This is not only a blue state phenomenon. Recent polling in Mississippi indicates strong support across the political spectrum for bold policies that reduce incarceration. For example, according to polling from last month, 72 percent of Mississippians, including majorities from both parties, believe it is important to reduce the number of people in prison (see figure 4). Perhaps most tellingly, across the country victims of crime also support further reforms to our criminal justice system over solutions that rely on jail stays and harsh prison sentences...

We are at an inflection point: we can continue to rely on the failed mass incarceration tactics of the past, or chart a new path that takes safety seriously by continuing to reform our broken criminal justice system and strengthening families and communities."

-via FWD.us, May 15, 2024

[thepersonalwords]

The craving for security has conditioned the society to perceive education not as an endeavor of the mind, rather as a preprogrammed task created by some sophisticated, illusory structure known as the “system of education”. Education means breaking free from the manacles of limitations put forward by primitive ignorance. Yet today’s fake education is gloriously founded upon the primordial element of “limitation”. And the authorities of this so-called education often take pride in their ship shape structure where they manufacture dumb manikins.

Abhijit Naskar

[s3znl-gr3znl]

Leftist #1: So yeah its cool that we agree on this thing. Lets work together

Leftist #2: Agree? Nonono, your theory on Dialectical Materialism may be sound, but your views on kittens with bowties make cooperation with you utterly impossible.

Rightwinger: what if we use fentynal instead of gunpowder in bullets so that everyone who dies in a school shooting can be labeled a drug addict, thus justifying their death

[divorcedwife]

i feel like the default period for historical AUs is the regency era, but personally i always want to drop people in 1780s france, for maximum drama

[jesseleelazyblog]

Wrongful Execution Scheduled for Oct 17

How to Help:

If you live in Texas you can take these actions as well:

[squishymochithethird]

My mom was going on and on about how “far left” and “radical” Tim Walz is and I finally listened to some of his points and.

He’s one of the most reasonable politicians I’ve heard in a very long time. I’m surprised she doesn’t like him tbh, he’s kind of the perfect democrat for someone like her??

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

This isn't suprising given that this is the most partisan supreme court we've ever seen and it's only getting more blatant, they will bend over backwards to fit the conservative agenda even if it makes them public hypocrites. This is why we need to drastically reform the supreme court at minimum and dissolve it at most, the damage they wreak is unparalleled given that they can't be checked in any meaningful capacity despite what conservative elements may claim. Now's not the time for moderation or reaching across the aisle since time and time again democrats reach their hand out only to get it slapped again and again and again, they have made their choices clear with project 2025 and we can't simply sit idly by as they dismantle our democracy and deny others constitutional rights like the traitors and villains they are!

[luminewhosthat]

TW: VIOLENCE AND BLOOD

Terrorist Party Chaatra League dropping off student bodies and dumping them into drains. Vile and disgusting. UNBELIEVABLE!!

Look at how our country's police are treating those students !!! As if they are some kind of wild animal !!! How is this even possible ?!! They are terrorizing their own country's students !

This brave student, named Abu Sayed, got shot by the police because he was a part of the Anti-Quota Movement. His bravery is unmatched, offering himself as a sacrificial lamb in order to protect the country's future.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[alwaysbewoke]

the fix is in!!

[wriokitty]

I change my vision depending on the selfship tbh

[reasonsforhope]

"The New York City Council voted to ban most uses of solitary confinement in city jails Wednesday [December 20, 2023], passing the measure with enough votes to override a veto from Mayor Eric Adams.

The measure would ban the use of solitary confinement beyond four hours and during certain emergencies. That four hour period would be for "de-escalation" in situations where a detainee has caused someone else physical harm or risks doing so. The resolution would also require the city's jails to allow every person detained to spend at least 14 hours outside of their cells each day.

The bill, which had 38 co-sponsors, was passed 39 to 7. It will now go to the mayor, who can sign the bill or veto it within 30 days. If Mayor Adams vetoes the bill, it will get sent back to the council, which can override the veto with a vote from two-thirds of the members. The 39 votes for the bill today make up 76% of the 51-member council. At a press conference ahead of the vote today [December 20, 2023], Council speaker Adrienne Adams indicated the council would seek [a veto] override if necessary.

For his part, Mayor Adams has signaled he is indeed considering vetoing the bill...

The United Nations has said solitary confinement can amount to torture, and multiple studies suggest its use can have serious consequences on a person's physical and mental health, including an increased risk of PTSD, dying by suicide, and having high blood pressure.

One 2019 study found people who had spent time in solitary confinement in prison were more likely to die in the first year after their release than people who had not spent time in solitary confinement. They were especially likely to die from suicide, homicide and opioid overdose.

Black and Hispanic men have been found to be overrepresented among those placed in solitary confinement – as have gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The resolution in New York comes amid scrutiny over deaths in the jail complex on Rikers Island. Last month, the federal government joined efforts to wrest control of the facility from the mayor, and give it to an outside authority.

In August 2021, 25-year-old Brandon Rodriguez died while in solitary confinement at Rikers. He had been in pre-trial detention at the jail for less than a week. His mother, Tamara Carter, says his death was ruled a suicide and that he was in a mental health crisis at the time of his confinement.

"I know for Brandon, he should have been put in the infirmary. He should have been seeing a psychiatrist. He should have been being watched," she said.

She says the passage of the bill feels like a form of justice for her.

"Brandon wasn't nothing. He was my son. He was an uncle. A brother. A grandson. And he's very, very missed," she told NPR. "I couldn't save my son. But if I joined this fight, maybe I could save somebody else's son." ...

New York City is not the first U.S. city to limit the use of solitary confinement in its jails, though it is the largest. In 2021, voters in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, passed a measure to restrict solitary confinement except in cases of lockdowns and emergencies. The sheriff in Illinois' Cook County, which includes Chicago, has said the Cook County jail – one of the country's largest – has also stopped using solitary confinement...

Naila Awan, the interim co-director of policy at the New York Civil Liberties Union, says that New York making this change could have larger influence across the country.

"As folks look at what New York has done, other larger jails that are not quite the size of Rikers will be able to say, 'If New York City is able to do this, then we too can implement similar programs here, that it's within our capacity and capabilities," Awan says. "And to the extent that we are able to get this implemented and folks see the success, I think we could see a real shift in the way that individuals are treated behind bars.""

-via NPR, December 20, 2023

[margoshansons]

Thinking about how the Chappel Roan situation and I got to get some thoughts out as a non-binary, disabled, bisexual person with the ability to give birth.

I understand her take. Dems and the left should be criticized and questioned, the same way the right and Republicans should be too. I support Kamala as a candidate but there’s still a lot I disagree with her with and want to see changed (her stance on Palestine and Israel being a prime example of this).

But this is not the election to pull that card with. My very identity, my very way of living is at stake with this election. One side is actively working to erase vital rights that communities and people fought for and DESERVE, gut the education department so they can control the populace, and actively supports and befriends other genocidal maniacs (Netanyahu and Putin).

I’m lucky that I live in a blue state but I have friends who don’t. I have family who don’t.

I’m privileged enough to not only be white and female presenting but to also pass as straight. I have friends who aren’t. I have family who aren’t.

This is not the election to vote small. This is not the election to say “both sides are bad”. Yes, I understand she’s simply saying she doesn’t agree with policies on the left but that becomes irrelevant when the policies the right are pushing are actively harming trans people, black people, gay people, and people who give birth.

“Both sides are bad” and “Criticize your leaders” work in any other election BUT NOT THIS ONE.

Because with this election, there is no “lesser of two evils”. This election is a choice between life and death for most of us, and I know what I’m choosing.