Do you believe that a “crisis of overcriminalization” actually exists in the United States right now?

Question

I'm kind of torn on this topic. Anyone have an opinion on this??

Answer 1

Yes, it is based upon zero-tolerance policies. Non-violent criminals should have to pay financially (fines, with monthly payments) as well as serve some community service. The risks of coming out of prison with a death defining virus make prision time unequal to the crime found guilty of--the punishment does not equal the crime.

Answer 2

crisis no but over h**l yes

Answer 3

It seems as though it's been getting better in some areas and worse in others.  Obscenity laws, sodomy laws, decency laws, etc are less common, but anti-drug laws seem to be increasingly becoming more prevalent and strict.

I would say we have more of a problem with the trend of "catching criminals" by any means necessary at great loss to our privacy - I mean, things like non-warranted phone tapping, face recognition software scanning the streets, police cameras monitoring street corners, fingerprinting kids on class field trips to the police station, etc.

Answer 4

Actually, I think we let people get away with too much... undercriminalization. Yet, it is a bit of freedom that is acceptable.

Answer 5

Yes, I have an opinion.  An idiot gets hit by a car while crossing the street in NYC. He was wearing an iPod and could not hear the car coming.  Walking with iPods then becomes illegal.  I think he would have been hit anyway, because he did not bother to look.  If not today or tomorrow, then someday he would be a red blotch on the asphalt, iPod or no iPod.  How does making wearing an iPod while walking illegal help anything whatsoever?  People in power think that making laws to save us from ourselves is actually helping us, when in reality it is only costing us money better used elsewhere. If someone is too stupid to realize that their behavior is directly inhibiting their survival reflex, then they need to be removed from the gene pool anyway.  Making a law to try to save this person is not going to help anyone but the people who get paid to keep track of them.