Reply #44: Welcome to our justice system

[demobabe]

It's exactly these kinds of arrests that should wake us up that something terribly wrong is going on in the country.

Yep, you "committed a crime" technically according to our laws, so it's easy to point the finger and say, "you shouldn't have done that and now you get to pay!"

Now you took the risk having an illegal substance, and clearly you'll be punished. But there is a more sinister thing going on here: you're now in the computers: The computers that can keep you from leaving the country (Canada won't have you visit now), and the computers that will keep track of you in the following years if you ever get busted for anything again... like speeding, even.

Justice is a big industry here in the US, and they're pushing to privatize it even more. Jails get subsidies for housing federal inmates, and DAs are rewarded for their conviction rates. Everything points to jailing as many people as possible - the more people in the system, the more money the private corporations stand to make. This is why America has more inmates per capita than anywhere else - it's a growing and profitable industry!

The time for justice reform is NOW.