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Originally Posted by Fourtyrulz
I would definitely change the way recreational drug offenders are sentenced. Right now our jail system is filled to the brim with 18 and 19 year olds doing time for their second or third charge of possession of weed. Mandatory minimum sentencing for these sort of inane crimes needs to be done away with. Mandatory sentencing eliminates the need for judicial discretion and completely ignores the defendents background and actual threat to society. Stop wasting money on stoned teenagers! If anything give them probation or send them to rehabilitation.
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Agreed. This is easily, and without doubt, the most serious problem with the American penal system. I forget the exact numbers, but literally thousands upon thousands of people prosecuted for minor drug charges waste space and resources in the prison system. Changing the focus from incarceration to rehabilitation, or even better, some form of marijuana legalization, would improve things drastically.
liquidlight, I just...the last thing we need to do is put more people to death. Expediting the process is about the worst idea I could possibly think of. If the state is going to engage in murder, the last thing it should be doing is removing any safeguards. Lastly, murdering more people will have a negligable overall effect on the money/space problems facing our penal system.