What do you think can be done about the crime situation in America? Where would you begin to solve our problem

CCRIDER69

stiffer punishment's,and long prison terms,utilize the death penalty...

andrespb22

THE POOR, THE DELINCUENT AND SADLY SOME ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BRING MORE CRIME TO AMERICA, MAYBE WE SHOULD START THERE.

Bush is not conservative

END THE WAR ON DRUGS.

Prohibition only creates crime and related social harms. This was the case in the 1920s with alcohol, and it is the case now with currently illegal drugs. It does not matter if you are for or against people using drugs. Prohibition does NOT WORK, and it costs far too much to continue.

I never really thought it through when I was younger. It was very simple to me: Drugs are bad, therefore they should be illegal. That was all of the thought I put into it, because I did not think beyond the propaganda that I heard every day in school. I did not think about all of the problems that prohibition causes (even though I had studied prohibition at one point), and I think that most people are pretty much brainwashed by the same propaganda, so most of us don't bother to think about the negative impact that the "WAR ON DRUGS" has on our society.

If you do not think we should change the laws, then you support drug UNcontrol. Prohibition means NO regulation, and NO control because drugs are pushed underground into criminality. Prohibition does not stop people from making, selling, buying or using drugs. All it does is make drugs impossible to control. The most optimistic reports show that we only interdict 10-15% of drug traffic. That means that prohibition is 85% to 90% ineffective. That also means that we have NO control over recreational substances.

It does not matter if you are for or against drug use. Prohibition is an abject failure. If we put a stop to this irresponsible and detrimental "WAR", our country could experience a huge DECREASE in:

-Crime (Crime is higher as a result of the war on drugs. In particular, homicides have skyrocketed - 10 per 100,000 - the only other time the homicide rate was so high was during alcohol prohibition. After prohibition, the murder rates dropped by more than HALF)

-Disease and,

-Government Spending (A RAND corporation study showed that each dollar spent on education and treatment is 7 times more effective than a dollar spent on criminal interdiction, yet we spend more than 45 BILLION DOLLARS per year on criminal interdiction and incarceration costs, and less than 4 billion dollars on education, treatment, and prevention.
),

-Prison Population (According to the American Corrections Association, the average daily cost per state prison inmate per day in the US in 2005 was $67.55. That means it costs states approximately $16,948,295 per day to imprison drug offenders, or $6,186,127,675 per year),
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm

-Gangs and Organized Crime (gangs are a product of drug prohibition),

-Corrupt Police (Who wants to live in a police state?),

-Drug Trafficking (obvious reasons),

-Drugs Use among Teens (Drug use INCREASED 7 fold among 12-17 year olds after the modern War on Drugs started. The economics of prohibition favors the targeting of youths. Drug dealers don't ask for ID),

-Graffiti (Gang tagging creates an enormous graffiti problem causing millions of dollars in damage every year. The gangs are a product of drug prohibition)

-Deaths due to overdose,

-car accidents caused by high speed chases (Where a driver is afraid of being caught with illegal drugs),

-divorce rate (parents would not be separated from the family due to petty possession convictions),

-GUN CONTROL - we have increasingly strict gun control laws because the crime wave that rides on prohibition has caused huge public outcry. Rather than focus on the cause of crime (socioeconomic factors of the drug war are a major component), the public and legislators lash out at gun owners. This would practically REMOVE the government's pretext to ban guns!

Since Nixon started the modern war on drugs, use among teens is up 7 times. This is because the black market created by prohibition makes underage teens a very easy target. The result is that illegal drugs run rampant through every high school in America. But alcohol, as a legal drug, is much harder for a minor to obtain.

We must remove the profit incentive in the black market for recreational substances - the only way to do that is to end prohibition and replace it with regulation. Congress is granted the power to "regulate commerce". "Regulate", to the writers of the Constitution, meant to facilitate the proper functioning of, as when someone regulates a clock to keep proper time, or the barrels of a double rifle to hit the same point of aim

The Rand corporation's study showed that every dollar spent on education or treatment programs is 7 times more effective that a dollar spent on criminal interdictions. If recreational substances were made available through a regulated and taxed means, just like alcohol, we could focus far more money on education and treatment and as a result, lower drug use and provide for a healthier society. The resultant reduction in crime will provide safer streets for police and citizens, and allow the police to concentrate on real crimes, such as violent crimes. This was one of the rationales behind the repeal of Alcohol Prohibition, and it is still a good idea.

In Holland where both Marijuana and Heroin are legally available, they have HALF the percentage of Marijuana users as in the US, and a THIRD the percentage of heroin users. If heroin were legal tomorrow would you shoot up? No, neither would I. The people that would use heroin already use it, and obtain it through the black market. Available through regulated channels, it would simply end the crime ridden black markets, and promote a healthy environment free of HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis and overdoses.

Prohibition policies are based on fiction. They destroy society by creating an environment of crime and corruption, as well as giving government "Big Brother" powers over the lives, recreational habits, and choices of all citizens.

And prohibition policies create vast bureaucracies. And the lies and propaganda which these bureaucracies must create and disseminate, in order to prop up their fiction, can cause aware and thinking people to develop a tragic deep and permanent distrust of the government, of the hardworking people in law enforcement, and of the political process.

Prohibition and the forces that support it are enemies of liberty and domestic tranquility. While there may be issues with the use, and sometimes abuse, of various recreational drugs like alcohol, those issues and those people that abuse should be dealt with directly, instead of creating an unregulated black market that feeds the mouth of crime. That is all prohibition has ever done, and will ever do.

sudsbud9er

Strengthen the family unit. Get away from the single parent home situation, kids need a Father and a Mother in the home.

Get kids off the internet, limit their time on it. And limit time playing games and watching TV shows.

Structure healthy activities for them, do things as a family, or in groups.

nvrrong

quit putting the criminals out on the street.punish them for crime.

william a

Here in Canada most of the serious crime is caused through drugs. Too much money can be made by dealing. Solve the drug problem and you solve a lot of the crime. Anyone who gets addicted and buys drugs is contributing to the problem.

gunrrobot

Pass mandatory sentencing laws and take the role from whiny, activist judges. Return the prison system to a PRISON system. No parole boards, no time off for good behavior, no TV, no books, no exercise rooms, no yard. Everyone sits in an 8' x 8' cell with a cot and a toilet. Meals are slid into the cell twice a day, and you sit there until you have served your FULL sentence.

milliecriollo

That's one answer you know yourself it will be hard to do. Why cause if they solve a problem there who's going to solve the problems here and over and there and everywhere. Bush is not making it good for us.He's making it worse then what it is.What we need is a real good Milagros(miracle).

sshazzam

One of the first things I would do is reform prisons. Currnetly they just breed more hate and destructive behaviors and have very little if any rehabilitation.

There there are numerous things people can be educated on to keep from being a victim, a godd ad campaign would help.

clyde

teach the young people the wrongs and write from en early age.

Daniel C

First off, declare the war on drugs a stupid mistake and legalize the possession and usage of marijuana and hashish. Keep harder stuff criminal but lower the penalties and make them more of a civil offense (i.e. fines instead of jail time).

That'll knock a huge dent in it right there.

Put the savings realized by this move into education and treatment programs.

That leaves the outright criminal - not the poeple who steal to support their habit, but the rapists, the murderers, etc. Continue to deal with them harshly. Allow that people do stupid stuff and make poor decisions when they are young (yes, even incredibly hurtful ones). First offense not too terrible; second and later offenses, throw away the key.

For any law enforcement officer who breaks the law in any way (from traffic violation to everything else) the fines and jail time are automatically doubled. Dont' think for a minute that the mere act of putting on a badge makes someone a superhero who can do no wrong.

margie s

Prisons, it a revolving door we need to make sure they can come back into society and we need to open up mental hospitals again. We have mental people roaming around needing meds and committing crimes. We say their not crazy and put them in prison. If your a child molester, Your nuts something is wrong up stairs and you need to be put somewhere you can't get out until your cured. In prison you do a sentence whether your cured or not. In a mental Hospital you stay until your cured. Plus you are treated not in jail your not.

tandfrog

Lower taxes,higher minimum wages, and stop outsourcing?

nocateman

I have already started by spreading positive messages on Yahoo Answers knowing that every little bit of good messages erodes at the negative energy that engulfs us some days. I speak of positive things and work to be more polite and offer positive affirmations to young folks around me. It will spread faster if we all take responsibility for everything we say and do and love life and live to love and refuse all negativity in your life.Think snowball effect.
Also we need to focus on the generation that is at risk and expose them to the above info on every occasion we can. Raise our kids with love and tolerance so they won't go looking for it on the street.

xoxoâ™¥oxox

It all begins with people wanting to change... People have to focus on changing themselves... if not... then there never will be a change... People have to learn to stop being so stupid... Another thing is people need to start raising their kids right... It all starts in the home... and if people don't want to take care of their kids then stupid people should stop having kids... Stupid parents result in stupid kids... which has a tremendous effect on society. And crime is an act of hate... People who hate themselves hate everyone else... Hurt people hurt people.

Vinny D

vca nu nerds, geeks like s- upppppppppppppppp???????????????????????...

Neil

Ban Guns

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: