Pubdate: Mon, 30 Jun 2008
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Section: National, Page A.8.
Copyright: 2008 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: John Chase

MISSING THE POINT

Re: Facts convict Obama's line on crime June 22, George Will column

George Will chuckles that Barack Obama doesn't seem to understand why
more prisoners equals less crime. The logic is true but misleading.
Extrapolated to its extremes, you would have zero crime if everyone
were incarcerated, and maximum crime if none were incarcerated. The
optimum point is somewhere in between.,,We need a serious conversation
about the societal damage being done by "oversentencing" and by
selective enforcement of drug laws in the inner city. While the number
of blacks in prison for these two reasons is not the majority, the
perceived injustice alienates young black males from the mainstream,
thus perpetuating the very conditions that the law was designed to
prevent. That, I think, is what Obama is talking about.

John Chase, Palm Harbor
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