BTW, when I noted yesterday that the U.S. does not have an unusually high rate of violent crime, I should have also noted that we do have an unusually high rate of homicide -- something like five times the rate of comparable countries. Can you guess why!
Time's up. What's likely to happen when you attack somebody with a firearm as opposed to some other weapon?
Okay, the subject of today's post is what happens to people who get criminal convictions. Well, here's what they look like going into the jail population. This study happens to have been done in New York City but the population is presumably typical.
*Freudenberg, et al. Comparison of Health and Social Characteristics of People Leaving New York City Jails by Age, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity: Implications for Public Health Interventions. Public Health Reports 2007. 122(6)
Okay, so you're likely to have little education, be unemployed, unstably housed, maybe have emotional problems (and these are only people who report being diagnosed, and usually depression and anxiety disorder are not diagnosed) and to have significant health problems. So, what are you likely worried about when you are released? Here's what the same people told interviewers they were worried about;
So, you need a job, you need education, you need money, you need substance use treatment. What do you think you're likely to get? These are the so-called "collateral consequences of criminal conviction. (As for substance use treatment, fuhgeddabodit. You'll likely face a months long waiting list when you get out. Lots of people OD before they get to the front of the line.)
Legal “Collateral Consequences” may include:
So there you are, out on the street. You can't get a job, you can't get housing, you can't get job training, you're broke, you probably need medical care and substance use treatment, but you can't get those either. (BTW, you lose Medicaid while incarcerated and have to re-enroll.)
So guess what's likely to happen? Time's up!
4 comments:
As I've noted before, this country's leaders care about money and power, not people, health, kindness or the environment.
Simply put, the government doesn't give a shit. Many Democrats do, but they're painted into a corner by a corrupt Supreme Court and a Republican minority that, along with Fux and other right-wing media, distract people and sic their followers on the wrong targets (women, minorities, children, and nonexistent "problems" like abortion rights and people's rights to express themselves).
Here in Tucson, AZ, there are people at almost every intersection -- and it's summer now -- standing out in the heat with cardboard signs, panhandling what they can from occupants of passing cars. The local, state and federal governments don't give a shit about education, health or job training, least of all for people with brown skin. Gotta stay in power by setting the masses at each other's throats, so they don't realize they're being fleeced by their "leaders" ... that means Repugnantcans and the erroneously named "conservatives."
It's all about using language to confuse the fuck of people who need help, so they won't get it and the super-rich can get richer and fund their candidates for re-election to continue the cycle of abuse and neglect and enrichment for Caucasian assholes.
The system is working as it was designed to work! Jefferson's heirs.
Near as I can tell the end point for sociopaths depends on their childhood environment:
Underprivileged - prison.
Overprivileged - Wall street or corporate boardrooms.
I'd like to see more opportunities for rehabilitation, education, job training, etc. BEFORE they are released.
Notice I said 'opportunities' because all that stuff doesn't work if the individual is not interested.
Empathy and compassion are the rock-solid foundation of a successful extended human family.
With few exceptions, they do not exist in the United States of America's political compact.
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