From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Mon Jul 29 2002 - 22:28:05 MDT
Randall Randall wrote:
> According to http://www.bop.gov/fact0598.html#Offense , at least 64.2
> percent of the people that are in federal prison right now are there
> for nothing I would consider a crime. They are just like you or me.
And this, of course, is the most serious crime of all. Our
government not only is not "serving" us, it is not only eating
away at our basic freedoms and our wealth, it is also locking up
significant numbers of *us* for no worthy reason. Yet most of
the time most Americans seem not to notice or to want to know.
There is a mechanism at work here that is interesting and that
we need to understand and counteract.
> Because of the way statistics are grouped, I can only say for sure that
> at least 14.6 are there for something I would consider a crime.
>
> There are so many laws on the books that no one can know whether they
> have violated one or more, so at least 64% of people currently in
> prison are different mostly in that someone decided it was worth
> apprehending and prosecuting them, and not you.
>
Sometimes I worry about being more activist for that reason.
There is too much the government can use at its arbitrary
discrestion to shut me (or any of us) down and lock me away. It
is not at all a pleasant thought.
- samantha
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