Not quite. Crimes are judged differently when committed by poor or rich. Sell Oxy on the street, long prison term. Purdue pharma made billions on Oxy knowing it was addictive and lying. Where are prison terms? Under three strikes laws people are serving life sentences for petty theft. Trump University and Trump foundation ripped off millions and Trump has cheated employees, contractors, and taxes. Anyone think he'll see the inside of a prison? Pro Publica just ran a story of a Tennessee county where Black children as young as 7 were locked up for something that isn't a crime, watching a couple of young kids have a minor fight. The county has one juvenile judge, who said locking up these children, who were literally dragged out of elementary school in handcuffs, is god's work. Does that happen in rich counties?
sorry. Excuses. I came from serious poverty. And i made a choice to use drugs. And i made a choice to stop using drugs. Will power comes from within. There are tons of success stories of those who have gotten out of poverty through discipline and perseverance. Poverty doesn't take inner drive away unless the person lets it go. do people in poverty need help? Sure. But lets not dismiss consequences for ones actions. Shit if thats the case, ill go quit my job, become an addict, rob a bank. And then just blame it on my poverty. Not my problem. Its the system. yes the system has issues. That doesn't negate the consequences that follow the choices made.
What you described is an anecdote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence Yes, there are people who are held down who overcome. But far fewer than if they weren't held down. And even fewer than if they were placed in a fertile environment conducive to growth. https://www.economist.com/graphic-d...ationship-between-income-inequality-and-crime The vast majority of crime is caused because we allow too many to fall into poverty. The most effective (and least expensive) way to solve that is to lift people out of poverty and prevent more from falling into poverty.
or, some allow themselves. Im a “when the shit gets tough, the tough get to diggin.” Kinda guy. i had to work two and three jobs to get by in my early years and it was minimum wage. What ever happened to paying your dues? This idea that everyone should make a high dollar wage out the gate is ludicrous. Hard work and effort gets the high wage. Many people choose not to work hard enough, give in and fall the way of the community they are in, instead of getting out. No one said life is easy. Can it be a little be easier? Maybe. Sure. But expecting society to lift everyone up to some equal stature is not reasonable. i shoulda not made my comment though, because i know we aren't going to find common ground on this. We have been here before. I believe in helping those who want to help themselves, but cant. You are for helping all, even those who can, but choose not to. im a bad person for my stance. But ive learned to live with that.
I've never said you were a bad person. You're just not thinking big picture or considering actual evidence. None of the other stuff you mentioned has anything to do with evidence based public policy. Nobody claimed everyone should make a high dollar wage to start. A living wage is by definition not a high dollar wage.
The root of the use of drugs is a social problem. The solution is two pronged, police and social intervention.
Poverty is criminalized. In the thread about former NBA players allegedly committing insurance fraud, we debated prison. Would it be a debate if a poor person stole thousands of dollars?
