The Open Secret is that most of the people in Delaware's prisons are there not for committing a major, dangerous crime, but for pissing the wrong color. According to the study, Delaware Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Project 2003 to 2006 Evaluation with Recidivism Results, other state incarceration reports, and rough correlations made between the figures for Work Release, and the inmates who are there for violation of probation (most of which are for ganja related "dirty" urine tests), about 35% of Delaware's prison population is in the system for ganja related violation of probation or enhanced anti-ganja sentencing.
Don't get me wrong. If one has committed a serious, violent crime, there is no excuse for that. But when about 35% of the prison population consists of merely having having smoked some ganja the time to analyze the rationale behind that treatment has come.
Given the relative safety of ganja consumption, it makes about as much sense as the re-incarceration of people because they took a couple of over the counter pain relievers, since it is provable that taking counter pain relievers is more dangerous than consuming some ganja. It makes as much sense to re-arrest people for drinking milk. If about a third of prisoners have consumed ganja, you can rest assured that almost all of them have drunken milk.
After watching a show on wrongful convictions in the US, I did a little study on state prison incarcerations on a per capita basis (2004 info). Delaware ranked #1 at .08%. Delaware was even higher than Texas, the state that I thought had the highest rate. What's going on over there?
ReplyDeleteI was watching a show on wrongful convictions in the US and decided to do a little study on state prison populations per capita. Based on 2004 info, it was not Texas or California, as I had expected, but Delaware! Delaware was the state that put most of its citizens in jail! What's going on over there?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is pretty bad,in general terms. Per capita arrests are not only the highest in the nation, false arrests and wrongful convictions are high, as well. Just as bad is the police brutality that saturates every level of the criminal justice system.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who dares to speak out about bad arrests has a very good chance of meeting up with one of the squad of New Castle County goons who take great pride in meteing out taser treatments and brutal beatings. In fact, any given run in with Wilmington city cops, New Castle County cops, Newport cops, Elsemere cops and certain individual state cops has a significant likelihood of degenerating into some form of abuse of citizen, and there are thousands of people who are brutalized by cops in this state every year. Shoot first, ask questions later is their mantra.
Prison is just as bad. The state choses to ignore independent studies they commissioned that show just how bad the prisons are in allowing guards to pepper spray, beat and even torture inmates. It is very rare for any guard to be held accountable.
Blacks outnumber whites in arrest statistics as well as for being brutlized or imprisoned.
Despite the fantastic progress we've made in getting ganja arrests down, Delaware is a violent police state.