Comment posted on 10 Facts about Crime in the U.S. by Paco
RE: Alex,
Good points. Another thing to consider is when two consenting people engage in sexual activity, and the state decides that they’re in violation of something. When a 17 year old, and a 27 year old, choose to have sex with each other, and neither of them are complaining, or victims of anything, the state can claim that is rape.
It’s not “rape”, but to give you an idea of how absurd some of the “sex crimes” are…
I know of an instance where a drunk man mooned a school bus, and he is in prison, considered a sex offender, with minors.
A 14 year old girl took naked pictures of herself, and sent them to a few people. They charged her with possession of child porn, disseminating child porn, and some other crime claiming she took sexual advantage of a minor.. In this case, herself.
Two 15 year olds have consensual sex, and they both get charge with having sex with a minor, and they are both now sex offenders.
The grandmothers of this country are the biggest group of child pornographers in the world. Every picture of their naked grandchild in the tub, with their rubber ducky, and soap suds on their head, is another potential “child porn” case (the law makers in this country evidently don’t know what “pornography” means). God help your family if your grandmother emails this picture to everyone in your family.
In short, statistics about “crime” are more telling of how ridiculously overgrown, and overbearing, the state is. If there is no victim, there is no crime.
“The primary function of the independent juror is not, as many think, to dispense punishment to fellow citizens accused of breaking various laws, but rather to protect fellow citizens from tyrannical abuses of power by government.” – FIJA.org
Paco also commented
- End prohibition. Ending prohibition of prostitution, and legal drugs (two victimless “crimes”), would essentially eliminate 95% of “crime” in the US.
If you want fewer criminals, make fewer restrictions. If you live in the US, you’re likely in violation of some statute, or law, right now. Look at the statistics, and see what % of people in prison are in for actually doing harm to someone else, and what % are in prison for “crimes against the state”.
The answer is freedom.
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Legalize adult use of cannabis.
Ups, need to think twice before moving to the States next year…
You say we have the most “crimes” per year, over 12 million, but how many are malum prohibitum crimes? (It’s illegal, because the law says so, not because it is inherently criminal). Ideal examples malum prohibitum laws are cannabis use and prostitution between consenting adults, and until a few days ago, oral-sex between consenting adults in Louisiana. Our holding the most prisoners is directly related to the prevalence of these worthless laws.
The question is, how many actual crimes occurred in the US, and how many of those 12 million criminals are simply victims of colonial era laws or political nonsense? If 10 million of the reported crimes were “possession of 1/2 oz of marijuana”, I’m not particularly concerned.
Also, concerning the rapes, I categorically refuse to believe the US has the most rapes per capita. No way. Was it Congo with the rape epidemic? I think they estimated that more than 40% of all women had been raped at least once there. There is no way the US comes close to any of the war-zones anywhere on this planet.
Lets consider two things: First of all, how many women live in nations where reporting a rape would only be more trouble for them (in some of the Muslim nations, being raped is a capital offense, and I suspect that in most sub-Saharan and South-East Asian nations and even impoverished parts of Latin America or Oceania, nobody cares). A second point we must consider, how many of these rapes are “date rapes”? Certainly the act is wrong, but I do think there is a difference between the two. On one hand you have two drunk college kids fooling around and the guy doesn’t stop when told to, on the other, you have a gang of machete wielding thugs kick down your door, hold you down and rape you. Not the same thing.
End prohibition. Ending prohibition of prostitution, and legal drugs (two victimless “crimes”), would essentially eliminate 95% of “crime” in the US.
If you want fewer criminals, make fewer restrictions. If you live in the US, you’re likely in violation of some statute, or law, right now. Look at the statistics, and see what % of people in prison are in for actually doing harm to someone else, and what % are in prison for “crimes against the state”.
The answer is freedom.
RE: Alex,
Good points. Another thing to consider is when two consenting people engage in sexual activity, and the state decides that they’re in violation of something. When a 17 year old, and a 27 year old, choose to have sex with each other, and neither of them are complaining, or victims of anything, the state can claim that is rape.
It’s not “rape”, but to give you an idea of how absurd some of the “sex crimes” are…
I know of an instance where a drunk man mooned a school bus, and he is in prison, considered a sex offender, with minors.
A 14 year old girl took naked pictures of herself, and sent them to a few people. They charged her with possession of child porn, disseminating child porn, and some other crime claiming she took sexual advantage of a minor.. In this case, herself.
Two 15 year olds have consensual sex, and they both get charge with having sex with a minor, and they are both now sex offenders.
The grandmothers of this country are the biggest group of child pornographers in the world. Every picture of their naked grandchild in the tub, with their rubber ducky, and soap suds on their head, is another potential “child porn” case (the law makers in this country evidently don’t know what “pornography” means). God help your family if your grandmother emails this picture to everyone in your family.
In short, statistics about “crime” are more telling of how ridiculously overgrown, and overbearing, the state is. If there is no victim, there is no crime.
“The primary function of the independent juror is not, as many think, to dispense punishment to fellow citizens accused of breaking various laws, but rather to protect fellow citizens from tyrannical abuses of power by government.” – FIJA.org
This also fails to consider the relative size of the U.S. population compared to other nations. Few nations have near as many residents, and it must be considered that China, for instance, is notoriously closed-mouthed about anything that may paint their nation in a bad light. India, Russia, and Brazil, while having pockets of prosperity, have a great deal of significant poverty. Are reports from these impoverished areas making the list? Are there even reports being made, or more importantly, is there anyone to make them?
I too agree that our numbers are skewed by our ridiculous policies on possession of marijuana, but I think that the larger issue is that conclusions are being drawn from the comparison of apples and oranges.
I think the answer is in the facts presented, namely number 5.
It’s not much of a leap to say that because we have the largest police force in the world, they catch more crimes. Add that to the glut of laws that we have which try to legislate morality… You can also say that we are one of the few countries that actually has criminals breaking in to our country and committing crimes.
We’re a police state that dumps over HALF of our GDP into defense, law enforcement, and the war on drugs… We have an increasingly privatized prison system and the companies who run them are listed on the NYSE… Their stock trades on WALL STREET based on the number of prisoners they have in their facilities. The numbers are merely showing the inevitable outcome of this completely horrifying reality.