Re:Why is the American dream dead in the south?
by benihana on Sunday January 26, 2014 @08:03PM
(#7128022)
>One of the reasons for the very high amount of single parents in the South is the VERY harsh sentences for non-violent drug crime, especially among African Americans. Sometimes 10 years for first offenses
Outkast (from GA) mentions this in their song Gasoline Dreams (from 2000)
http://rapgenius.com/Outkast-gasoline-dreams-lyrics#note-788...
One of the reasons for the very high amount of single parents in the South is the VERY harsh sentences for non-violent drug crime, especially among African Americans. Sometimes 10 years for first offenses [1]. Yikes.
Even worse, many in the past ten years are being denied parole [2].
Why the high recidivism? I'm glad you asked. The culprit is For-Profit Prisons [3]. They come in to an area, pay off local judges and congresspeople, and watch the money roll in. Absolutely despicable, and something I am working to end. If you only read one link, read number 3.
[1] http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=20050404&id=_...
[2] http://www.eji.org/prisons/parolereform
[3] http://www.birminghamcriminaldefenseblog.com/2013/09/article...