Not sure that any city in the US need another trigger happy cop at this point.
Robocop saw no color, only crime.
He was still trigger happy. I'm all for fictional movie cops shooting bad people in the nuts and face, but when it comes to real life, I prefer cops to keep their guns holstered.
Not sure that any city in the US need another trigger happy cop at this point.
Robocop saw no color, only crime.
He was still trigger happy. I'm all for fictional movie cops shooting bad people in the nuts and face, but when it comes to real life, I prefer cops to keep their guns holstered.
He didn't shoot anyone who was unarmed. He's thus already a step up from the current situation...
A dystopian future where the struggle to maintain one's humanity is at the forefront would be preferable to the current situation.
Just let that sink in.
Worst case you are a machine, and not a human, big deal. Being able to worry about some esoteric thing like that is a luxury not afforded to those who have to worry about being terminated.
Worst case you are a machine, and not a human, big deal. Being able to worry about some esoteric thing like that is a luxury not afforded to those who have to worry about being terminated.
Not sure that any city in the US need another trigger happy cop at this point.
Robocop saw no color, only crime.
He was still trigger happy. I'm all for fictional movie cops shooting bad people in the nuts and face, but when it comes to real life, I prefer cops to keep their guns holstered.
I'm more of the opinion that no one entity should be the judge, jury, and executioner.
Plus Poverty=Crime, and the most impoverished demographics in the US are minorities. Robocop might not care about the race card being pulled on him, but its an unavoidable fact law enforcement is going to appear racist because of the disproportionate amount of crime in minority neighborhoods.
Robocop himself is just a victim of the same systemic problems. They spend all this money to build Robocop, or buy the cops more guns, they could have spent that money fixing poverty.
Robocop himself is just a victim of the same systemic problems. They spend all this money to build Robocop, or buy the cops more guns, they could have spent that money fixing poverty.
But... But.. That would involve giving things to poor people! Who don't deserve it! For free!
I want heavy enforcement of just laws coupled with earnest and real attempts to rehabilitate all offenders and integrate them into productive society.
And you're still racist because those offenders are still minorities.
I think the "earnest and real attempts to rehabilitate offenders" helps quite a bit, given that it's intended to provide resources and opportunity to people who are criminalized by the poverty cycle... Also, if you're implying that law enforcement is racist solely because people of color are proportionally committing more crimes (and subsequently being punished) more than white people, you may have missed some major points in discussions on racism in law enforcement. To wit: because of racist expectations that minorities will commit crimes, people of color are policed more heavily and punished more severely than white people are for the same infractions - that's one of the primary ways law enforcement acts as an instrument of racism in the US. The other way being a fairly unjust legal system where largely-white police departments aggressively police minority communities for minor infractions as a way to generate revenue for the local government...
Also, if you're implying that law enforcement is racist solely because people of color are proportionally committing more crimes (and subsequently being punished) more than white people, you may have missed some major points in discussions on racism in law enforcement. To wit: because of racist expectations that minorities will commit crimes, people of color are policed more heavily and punished more severely than white people are for the same infractions - that's one of the primary ways law enforcement acts as an instrument of racism in the US.
Por ejemplo. It's the media, not police, but they're not so different in this respect.
As others have pointed out, a big part of the problem is that when minorities and white people commit the same crime, minorities often get more harsh treatment/punishment/etc. Let's not even get into the increased likelihood that a minority may be accused of a crime relative to a white person whether or not they actually did commit that crime. Once accused, the system is often stacked against them getting a fair investigation/trial that could potentially find them innocent.
Let's just remove the issues of accusation and fair investigations and trials for the time being, just to simplify the argument. If a white person and minority both committed the same crime, they should get the same punishment, end of story. If that alone happened, the entire system would be considerably less racist (and if the pre-punishment phase of accusation, investigation, and trial was also equally fair, then the system would arguably be not racist at all). Poverty sucks, but it's no excuse to commit a crime. If the crime was something small that can be directly correlated to trying to survive while being poor, such as shoplifting groceries, a degree of leniency is entirely warranted in that situation, especially if proper resources are provided to assist the shoplifter in getting a better position in life where such shoplifting would no longer be necessary to survive. However, if we're talking about some sort of violent crime here, then if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
As Chris Rock said in some of his comedy routines with some of the problem attitudes that crop up occasionally in black people, you're not supposed to be proud of never having been to jail because you're not supposed to have ever gone to jail.
Of course, as Rym kinda insinuated, part of the problem with our judicial system is that it emphasizes punishment way too much over rehabilitation, especially for less severe crimes. I mean, once you commit a felony, no matter how minor, it can become extremely difficult to get a legitimate job again, thus often forcing someone to commit crimes once again just to survive. There is no reason why a non-violent offender can't be educated and rehabilitated to be a productive member of society, so why should we hold their felonious mistakes against them for the rest of their lives and therefore prevent them from ever being a productive member of society?
I want heavy enforcement of just laws coupled with earnest and real attempts to rehabilitate all offenders and integrate them into productive society.
And you're still racist because those offenders are still minorities.
I think the "earnest and real attempts to rehabilitate offenders" helps quite a bit, given that it's intended to provide resources and opportunity to people who are criminalized by the poverty cycle... Also, if you're implying that law enforcement is racist solely because people of color are proportionally committing more crimes (and subsequently being punished) more than white people, you may have missed some major points in discussions on racism in law enforcement. To wit: because of racist expectations that minorities will commit crimes, people of color are policed more heavily and punished more severely than white people are for the same infractions - that's one of the primary ways law enforcement acts as an instrument of racism in the US. The other way being a fairly unjust legal system where largely-white police departments aggressively police minority communities for minor infractions as a way to generate revenue for the local government...
Actual instances of cops/judges/juries being racist is a separate matter.
Of course, as Rym kinda insinuated, part of the problem with our judicial system is that it emphasizes punishment way too much over rehabilitation, especially for less severe crimes. I mean, once you commit a felony, no matter how minor, it can become extremely difficult to get a legitimate job again, thus often forcing someone to commit crimes once again just to survive. There is no reason why a non-violent offender can't be educated and rehabilitated to be a productive member of society, so why should we hold their felonious mistakes against them for the rest of their lives and therefore prevent them from ever being a productive member of society?
Rehabilitation is great, but how do you realistically rehabilitate poverty?
Food and monetary assistance coupled with increased education and job training and somehow pull millions of jobs out of your ass. That, or "The Purge" if you're an asshole.
Food and monetary assistance coupled with increased education and job training and somehow pull millions of jobs out of your ass. That, or "The Purge" if you're an asshole.
I smell a business opportunity. How much do you think rich assholes would pay for trigger time behind a door gun of a Blackhawk in a poor neighborhood. $1000 for 20 minutes?
Food and monetary assistance coupled with increased education and job training and somehow pull millions of jobs out of your ass. That, or "The Purge" if you're an asshole.
Education and job training may help individuals but only perpetuates the status quo in the long run. I know a great many felons, none of them are incapable of work or thought and most are normal people just like you or me, and some are more articulate, educated, and wealthy than either of us. When the issue is systemic, throwing money at the problem after the fact is the easy way out and just perpetuates the very same cultural issues that are being called into sight at the moment (racism). Rehabilitation and "assistance" implies that people are NOT equal members of society, that there is something wrong with people, when this is not the case. Black, white, whatever, we are all human and all inherently capable and holding great potential. In order to change the cultural issue of racism, the culture must change. This is happening as we speak, as so many are speaking out against violent policing and the racist attitudes of cops. In order to change the systemic issues of poverty and crime, the system must change. Changing the attitude of the system from "this is punishment" to "this is rehabilitation", doesn't solve a thing and calls for that C.S. Lewis quote. How to best change the system? I don't know, but my best bet would be to make food, shelter, and basic clothing basic human rights so that money's ability to affect people's lives is drastically reduced.
Rehabilitation is great, but how do you realistically rehabilitate poverty?
Poverty is no excuse for criminal activity, especially violent criminal activity. Ninjarabbi did at least mention that education and some sort of basic financial support so that you can survive without having to be a criminal is basically what needs to be done. There is a difference between poor as in "I can't afford all the wonderful toys I want, but I can still put food on the table and a roof over my head" and poor as in "I don't have enough money to buy food to eat, so I'm going to rob the grocery store."
I'm oversimplifying the scenarios here, obviously. There are certainly things other than food and shelter that you may need to survive in modern society (a basic cell phone plan, perhaps some basic internet access, etc.), but essentially if you're not so poor that you can't afford the basics of survival, you have no excuse for criminal activity.
One interesting suggestion I heard that, oddly enough, gets support from both some pretty hard core libertarians as well as some more liberal folks is the idea of a "basic income." Essentially, the plan is to eliminate all forms of welfare, social security, etc., and replace it with a check for said "basic income" that every adult (and perhaps emancipated minor) receives on a regular basis for their entire lives, no matter how rich or poor. This would take away the stigma of being on welfare as it's a benefit everyone receives. It may also have some savings as it would probably be less expensive to implement than the other options as we no longer need all the social workers and other "infrastructure" needed to support only giving welfare to the poor and making sure that the poor actually uphold the requirements of receiving welfare (which is a whole separate debate). As far as the problem of freeloaders, well, human nature is human nature. There will always be some freeloaders. However, since it is "basic," all you'd get out of it would be just enough to survive. For some freeloaders, sure, that may be enough, but even ignoring that the vast majority of people have at least some sort of work ethic, most people would still want to earn more than that in order to afford all those "wonderful toys."
One huge problem with that idea is that we have seen how minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living, and I can easily see the same happening to this basic income concept. The best idea I can think of is a massive works project like the New Deal where the government is employing huge chunks of people to do all the work that needs to be done, fix the bridges and all that, but I can't see the right going for anything of the sort.
Food and monetary assistance coupled with increased education and job training and somehow pull millions of jobs out of your ass. That, or "The Purge" if you're an asshole.
Education and job training may help individuals but only perpetuates the status quo in the long run.
I'm generally talking about trying to help people before they turn to crime in the first place, not fixing the criminal justice system. In the short term it would help some people but not really be noticeable to crime rates right away, but in the long term we would hopefully see less people turn to crime in the first place to get by. Granted, jobs is kind of the big issue, and fuck knows what to do about that.
Comments
I'm all for fictional movie cops shooting bad people in the nuts and face, but when it comes to real life, I prefer cops to keep their guns holstered.
Just let that sink in.
Plus Poverty=Crime, and the most impoverished demographics in the US are minorities. Robocop might not care about the race card being pulled on him, but its an unavoidable fact law enforcement is going to appear racist because of the disproportionate amount of crime in minority neighborhoods.
Also, if you're implying that law enforcement is racist solely because people of color are proportionally committing more crimes (and subsequently being punished) more than white people, you may have missed some major points in discussions on racism in law enforcement.
To wit: because of racist expectations that minorities will commit crimes, people of color are policed more heavily and punished more severely than white people are for the same infractions - that's one of the primary ways law enforcement acts as an instrument of racism in the US.
The other way being a fairly unjust legal system where largely-white police departments aggressively police minority communities for minor infractions as a way to generate revenue for the local government...
Let's just remove the issues of accusation and fair investigations and trials for the time being, just to simplify the argument. If a white person and minority both committed the same crime, they should get the same punishment, end of story. If that alone happened, the entire system would be considerably less racist (and if the pre-punishment phase of accusation, investigation, and trial was also equally fair, then the system would arguably be not racist at all). Poverty sucks, but it's no excuse to commit a crime. If the crime was something small that can be directly correlated to trying to survive while being poor, such as shoplifting groceries, a degree of leniency is entirely warranted in that situation, especially if proper resources are provided to assist the shoplifter in getting a better position in life where such shoplifting would no longer be necessary to survive. However, if we're talking about some sort of violent crime here, then if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
As Chris Rock said in some of his comedy routines with some of the problem attitudes that crop up occasionally in black people, you're not supposed to be proud of never having been to jail because you're not supposed to have ever gone to jail.
Of course, as Rym kinda insinuated, part of the problem with our judicial system is that it emphasizes punishment way too much over rehabilitation, especially for less severe crimes. I mean, once you commit a felony, no matter how minor, it can become extremely difficult to get a legitimate job again, thus often forcing someone to commit crimes once again just to survive. There is no reason why a non-violent offender can't be educated and rehabilitated to be a productive member of society, so why should we hold their felonious mistakes against them for the rest of their lives and therefore prevent them from ever being a productive member of society?
I'm oversimplifying the scenarios here, obviously. There are certainly things other than food and shelter that you may need to survive in modern society (a basic cell phone plan, perhaps some basic internet access, etc.), but essentially if you're not so poor that you can't afford the basics of survival, you have no excuse for criminal activity.
One interesting suggestion I heard that, oddly enough, gets support from both some pretty hard core libertarians as well as some more liberal folks is the idea of a "basic income." Essentially, the plan is to eliminate all forms of welfare, social security, etc., and replace it with a check for said "basic income" that every adult (and perhaps emancipated minor) receives on a regular basis for their entire lives, no matter how rich or poor. This would take away the stigma of being on welfare as it's a benefit everyone receives. It may also have some savings as it would probably be less expensive to implement than the other options as we no longer need all the social workers and other "infrastructure" needed to support only giving welfare to the poor and making sure that the poor actually uphold the requirements of receiving welfare (which is a whole separate debate). As far as the problem of freeloaders, well, human nature is human nature. There will always be some freeloaders. However, since it is "basic," all you'd get out of it would be just enough to survive. For some freeloaders, sure, that may be enough, but even ignoring that the vast majority of people have at least some sort of work ethic, most people would still want to earn more than that in order to afford all those "wonderful toys."