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Showing posts from November, 2013

USA ... Russia ... Germany

The statistics for this blog show which countries have the highest number of blog pageviews.  The top 3 countries, in order of pageviews, are as follows:  USA, Russia, Germany. Although this blog is American, writes in English and focuses attention on the USA, both Russia and Germany have histories of massive state slavery in the form of labor, concentration and extermination camps, torture, horrific prison conditions and inhumanity. We are glad the blog has readers in Russia and Germany ... those who forget the lessons of history are bound to repeat them.  The USA had not repeated the horrific injustices perpetrated by Stalin and Hitler; we have not sunk that low. But the scale of our incarceration presents similar problems, inefficiencies and waste.  The problems of incarceration and the places where they were most acute in the twentieth century provide food for thought.     

Attorney General Eric Holder's Speech on Mass Incarceration

Speech by Attorney General Eric Holder It’s time – in fact, it’s well past time – to address persistent needs and unwarranted disparities by considering a fundamentally new approach. As a prosecutor; a judge; an attorney in private practice; and now, as our nation’s Attorney General, I’ve seen the criminal justice system firsthand, from nearly every angle. While I have the utmost faith in – and dedication to – America’s legal system, we must face the reality that, as it stands, our system is in too many respects broken. The course we are on is far from sustainable. And it is our time – and our duty – to identify those areas we can improve in order to better advance the cause of justice for all Americans. Even as most crime rates decline, we need to examine new law enforcement strategies – and better allocate resources – to keep pace with today’s continuing threats as violence spikes in some of our greatest cities. As studies show that six in ten American children are exposed to ...