Do Prisons Keep Us Safe? Author Victoria Law Busts Myths About Mass Incarceration in New Book

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  • Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
  • As the first anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd approaches, we speak with author and journalist Victoria Law, who says despite the mass movement to fight systemic racism sparked by Floyd’s death, persistent myths about policing, incarceration and the criminal justice system still hinder reform. “Why do we think prisons keep us safe? Obviously, Derek Chauvin wasn’t afraid of being arrested or imprisoned when he killed George Floyd,” says Law, who examines these issues in her new book, “'Prisons Make Us Safer': And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration.”
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Комментарии • 155

  • @Locanth
    @Locanth 3 года назад +16

    End Mass incarceration. End slavery.

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад

      @Locanth, oh shut the hell up soy boy. Boy, you guys are too stupid to insult.

  • @Black_2_Def
    @Black_2_Def 3 года назад +17

    Defund the police unions and departments budget, and reallocate those resources for social programs and institutions that will aid people with the proper assistance whether it's drug rehabs, employment opportunities, or mental health support! They know what they're doing 🙄

    • @opalessence4818
      @opalessence4818 3 года назад +1

      💯

    • @Black_2_Def
      @Black_2_Def 3 года назад +6

      @No Princess Zone Then the police unions that they fund, should be solely responsible for paying out restitution for police misconduct! Not the taxpayers.

  • @graveurgraveur2691
    @graveurgraveur2691 3 года назад +20

    The American prison system is an industry; it's all about money!

    • @tubester4567
      @tubester4567 3 года назад

      Thats not really true, I looked up the stats and only 50% of US prisons have work programs, and over 90% are voluntary, you have to apply to get a job.

    • @allcatall3931
      @allcatall3931 3 года назад

      it's arguably about a dumbed down population, with many enough that keep falling for the same fear mongering narratives over and over, and over and over, and over and over.. such as 'tough on crime' (aka, sledge hammer, low iq approach, obviously backfires..).

    • @allcatall3931
      @allcatall3931 3 года назад

      as well as hypocrites projecting their own sins onto perceived easy targets (elderly persons, as it were, relatively speaking, except working class poc and whites with less money, property, like 'whitey' (certain ilk of whites) has historically had a fetish for)..

  • @andrewjameshenderson1389
    @andrewjameshenderson1389 3 года назад +11

    Cotton is a horrible man. 🤮

    • @allcatall3931
      @allcatall3931 3 года назад +1

      seems on par for the settler feet, they've a horrible history.

    • @billmarshall268
      @billmarshall268 Год назад

      How so? Don't you want violent criminals locked up?

  • @michaelvickers4437
    @michaelvickers4437 3 года назад +11

    In the Jim Crow era Southern states used Black Codes to criminalize Black men and force them into the de facto slavery of convict rental to businesses and chain gangs to build public works.
    The same is true today as private prison contracts require a minimum occupancy, so governments reckon its better to supply more prisoners so as not to appear to be profligate by paying the corporations for prisoner places that are unfilled.
    And many municipalities disproportionately ticket Black motorists, pedestrians and cyclists in order to generate revenues from fines and fees.

  • @dollcrazy300
    @dollcrazy300 3 года назад +13

    Prisons are punitive not rehabilitative. Why? We have a culture that’s all about power and control-to make money and get more power, money and control!

    • @emhu2594
      @emhu2594 3 года назад +1

      Prisons are places to develop hardened criminals that are well networked.

    • @allcatall3931
      @allcatall3931 3 года назад

      its fan boys are hypocrites that don't really care, they're just so utterly poorly socialized that they fear others so much, that they rather see them locked up.

  • @opalessence4818
    @opalessence4818 3 года назад +8

    Running prisons is an enormous, profit-making business.
    A reflection of our society’s tendency to worship the almighty dollar.
    Must have prisoners to fill them.

    • @michaelvickers4437
      @michaelvickers4437 3 года назад +3

      Just as Southern states used Black Codes in the Jim Crow era to criminalize Black men and force them into the de facto slavery of convict rental to businesses and chain gangs to build public works.
      The same is true as private prison contracts require a minimum occupancy, so governments reckon its better to supply more prisoners so as not to appear to be profligate by paying the corporations for prisoner places that are unfilled.
      And many municipalities disproportionately ticket Black motorists, pedestrians and cyclists in order to generate revenues from fines and fees.

    • @opalessence4818
      @opalessence4818 3 года назад +1

      @@michaelvickers4437 💯
      Sometimes this is done consciously, sometimes due to unconscious or implicit bias/ supporting the system that’s in place in general, i.e., going along with existing policies in order to keep one’s job and maintain an income.

    • @billmarshall268
      @billmarshall268 Год назад

      Do you always make things up? Private prisons which I disagree with make up a very very small percentage of jails and prisons.

    • @opalessence4818
      @opalessence4818 Год назад

      @@billmarshall268 You make a valid point.
      Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 8% of the total state and federal prison population since 2021.
      However, since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 32% compared to an overall rise in the prison population of 3%.

  • @StrohmaniasFlyingCircus
    @StrohmaniasFlyingCircus 3 года назад +15

    Richard Pryor has a detailed analysis of penitentiaries worth listening to.

    • @dollcrazy300
      @dollcrazy300 3 года назад +1

      How to find it?

    • @StrohmaniasFlyingCircus
      @StrohmaniasFlyingCircus 3 года назад

      @@dollcrazy300 put "pryor penitentiary" in youtube search.

    • @redman6790
      @redman6790 3 года назад

      Great social commentator when picked apart beyond the comedy

  • @landline516
    @landline516 3 года назад +4

    For starters: 1. Release all drug offenders except traffickers. 2. Eliminate all private profit prisons. 3. Look to Scandinavian countries for successful prison models. 4. UBI, pay people to stay out of prison. (It's cheaper than incarceration). 5. Provide an honorable path of re-integration into society. 6. add your own reason like kindness elevates us and punishment wounds us.

    • @billmarshall268
      @billmarshall268 Год назад

      Virtually nobody is incarcerated for personal use. That is a myth that gets displayed time and time again. Sometimes personal use drugs will be added to your prison sentence if you committed a forcible felony while in possession.

  • @Patrick.Edgar.Regini
    @Patrick.Edgar.Regini 3 года назад +7

    a HUUUGE huge subject that should be concerning the entire planet. We are have been owing a critical evolutionary step in this for too long, and the stakes are getting steeper the more power governments have over their population.

  • @ALL_CAPS__
    @ALL_CAPS__ 3 года назад +4

    In America, rehabilitation means locking someone away and giving them fines. In other countries, they actually do psychiatric work and get people the skills they need to be successful in life. American exceptionalism.

  • @SP.4
    @SP.4 3 года назад +10

    Shy from Philly 🌺 Let my people go‼

    • @BooBoo-pu1jh
      @BooBoo-pu1jh 3 года назад +2

      Let them all go!!! Starting in your neighborhood

  • @moises1189
    @moises1189 3 года назад +6

    Copaganda hilarious..so true

    • @allcatall3931
      @allcatall3931 3 года назад +1

      some of it is revolting to the senses, ime.

  • @bongwelll
    @bongwelll 3 года назад +4

    End the drug war now!!!

  • @BeforeItsTooLate1
    @BeforeItsTooLate1 3 года назад +2

    Echo chamber! So what is the solution Victoria?

  • @mei-linlouis7861
    @mei-linlouis7861 3 года назад +5

    Great segment; clear thinking, well said

    • @SP.4
      @SP.4 3 года назад

      Shy from Philly 🌺 Your right, I couldn't have said it better❣ 💥

  • @36cmbr
    @36cmbr 3 года назад +3

    fine work. thank you so much.

  • @julierozo
    @julierozo 3 года назад +2

    Amy, could you have asked if Biden’s rhetoric and his administration’s policies towards China have anything to do with the aggression towards Asian Americans?

    • @julierozo
      @julierozo 3 года назад +1

      @No Princess Zone Not paying attention, eh?

  • @peteremwells
    @peteremwells 3 года назад +2

    There are many people in prison who should be there.
    Those who are violent.
    Those who are there for drug violation, which I think are still numerous, should not be.
    Those who are there for being poor should not be either.

    • @zekeking1037
      @zekeking1037 3 года назад

      And how do we segregate ‘violent’ crimes from crimes of poverty when these descriptors overlap for a single incident?
      How does one define a ‘violent’ crime? Is a mugging violent, when it involves a threa TV odd red physical force, whereas corporate tax evasion is nonviolent, despite its exacerbation of poverty, which kills thousands of people a year via lack of health care, exposures to danger while doing work rich people can avoid, exposures to cancer-causing pollution that rich people also avoid, etc? How do we define violence when separating violent from nonviolent crimes, and who does the definition benefit?

  • @patriciagriffin1505
    @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад +3

    Yes many humans get off on violence

  • @dennisbriscoe9332
    @dennisbriscoe9332 3 года назад +1

    Jacque Fresco spoke against prisons, too.
    He said that, it's FAR MORE EFFECTIVE to ELIMINATE THE ELEMENTS THAT CAUSE CRIME.

  • @thosethatcan
    @thosethatcan 3 года назад +1

    I've seen cop dad" at charter" school, s. FL. On website kid holding riot shield..fubar

  • @ronmodarres7974
    @ronmodarres7974 3 года назад +1

    For sure; the main problem is the support for more incarceration; look at the the story of my brother from another mother back in the early 90's...he had a 5year probation & only 5 months left yet, he completed every demand except the $13,000 money; he was ordered to the court with out a private Attorney & then lost every penny he had & went straight to prison on that particular date & then had a criminal record...at what cost...i believe at that that time county/government paid $30,000 per inmate.
    No, i believe this is a total corruption at the highest levels that is still being broomed under the carpet .

  • @yurei8
    @yurei8 3 года назад +1

    What we need are community education programs, or even school based programs that teach life alternatives, and actions to keep them out of the criminal justice system, before crimes are committed. And this incudes addressing emotional maturity, to prevent what are called 'crimes of passion'. Nothing someone says to you, in a line at the liquor store should cause one to kill someone, and lose 20 years of their own life, as an example. (This is based upon a real life/death story). Yes the criminal justice has major faults. All the more reason why the community should be working to teach alternatives to the life styles, increasing involvement in the the system.

  • @kuangoseilah8082
    @kuangoseilah8082 3 года назад +1

    Attraction to watching the equivalent of a human train wreck? Yikes! Many people watch the news of this stuff due to years of it not being documented on video or photos and to know some of the crime in the nation. Because there's more wonderful things happening than awful things I think it's important to show more wondeful news and still show the awful but in the proper ratio. I love most of what Ms. Law said that part I disagree with. That appartment building security guard probably didn't provide good security for the tenants. It would be interesting to find out how many tenants felt safer with him and the guards as a security guard for their building.

  • @hn6187
    @hn6187 3 года назад +2

    Eloquent, good interview; the law is forever dancing about primitive feelings of disgust by powerful groups, and then, reasoned empirical arguments.
    Especially it seems in conservative religious countries with 'flawed democracies' like the USA and Saudi Arabia.

  • @HassanHassan-sf5xd
    @HassanHassan-sf5xd 3 года назад +2

    I agree with her 100%

  • @LibertyDoctrine
    @LibertyDoctrine 3 года назад +2

    Lying media

  • @LibertyDoctrine
    @LibertyDoctrine 3 года назад +2

    Lying media

  • @jazzsocietyofecuador
    @jazzsocietyofecuador 3 года назад +1

    What's just as important as informing us about how many people are currently in prison (approximately 2.3 million) is informing us how many American citizens have EVER been in prison.

  • @fosterricardo7568
    @fosterricardo7568 3 года назад +1

    Privatized prison systems $$$$$$

  • @livinlite9549
    @livinlite9549 3 года назад +2

    They call them gladiator schools.

  • @patriciagriffin1505
    @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад +7

    Prisoners only learn more violence in prison mainly due to the way their treated Shaun Atwood speaks to this on his You Tube channel

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад +2

      @patricia griffin, so the answer is not to arrest them when they commit crimes? Lol.

    • @patriciagriffin1505
      @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад +1

      @@lordmask3722 it all depends on your income if you’re charged with a crime or aren’t even arrested.. most prisons don’t even go to trial many make plea deals and spend longer in prison bc if this

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад +1

      @@patriciagriffin1505 , and what does that have to do with arresting those that commit crimes? If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

    • @patriciagriffin1505
      @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад

      @@lordmask3722 are you trying to make a point I don’t agree

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад +1

      @@patriciagriffin1505 , yes, my point is that all of you blue haired DEMON RATS are out of your damn minds. Prisons are needed for a reason.
      First you want to defund the police and now you want destroy prisons and let criminals out. Oh, and while you’re at it, let’s have open borders so that anyone can come in to our country. SMDH.
      Where the hell is your common sense? Stop smoking the good stuff. It seems to me that you, Amy, and that other chick in this interview have been hitting it too hard for a long time.

  • @patriciagriffin1505
    @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад +1

    I’m not being allowed to have a comment so does that mean google is a criminal????

  • @juveejunko
    @juveejunko 3 года назад +1

    Amy is really on top of hip hop news. I didn't know about DMX.

  • @AudioPervert1
    @AudioPervert1 3 года назад +1

    Does barbeque make us beautiful 🙄

  • @dividedconquered3784
    @dividedconquered3784 3 года назад

    Prison is not the answer! It makes people primal and hard! My dad was in prison 16 year's for armed robbery, he broke into a burger place to steal food for him and his family, he had a gun on him! He just had the gun so that meant armed robbery! When he got out he was institutionalised and had many mental illnesses! He was crazy, he was in Prison from 18 to 33 he couldn't be civil like the rest of us! He had to kill, steal and click up with a Spanish gang to survive! Prison pins races against eachother! In New Mexico there is the ABH Aryan Brotherhood and Gorrila army (african American) Sendicates and Los Carnarles (the brothers) there are the 4 prison Gangs here! It's all a profit game and we are the losers!🌷💚

  • @mirimirmiri3612
    @mirimirmiri3612 3 года назад

    You all are part of it. It is your competition, that is how, at it's very foundation, you keep, the "you can be whatever you want, if you only have the guts to go after it," moto of your system, commonly known as the "American dream,". With the addition of, a very intentionally entangled law web, and already entrenched people, on different tiers. That is the real threat the world is facing, not all the other blab sold at daily basis through media. If this calamity falls, and it is applied to the whole world, people will begin to begg for real crucifixions, ( crucifixion, not to be confused with trinkets, and tattoos). For the one's that it is to cryptic. There so many things I want. I thank G-d every day, that I don't have, the means, know how, or the guts to go after them. A piece of bread, a place to rest in peace, and a warm embrace, I have tested, observed and established as a fact, that it would satisfy almost all of my wants, and needs. How these conditions can come about? In there you will find, competition, ...... dream, hell and heaven, with all the data your soul desires.

  • @veganwinter2090
    @veganwinter2090 3 года назад

    They eat the forbidden fruit and make evil in the world. They eat and ill use of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which is the animals and creatures which makes them have evil and still some good as gods . Rather we should eat of the tree good for foods which is the vegetation, and have good and still be as gods.
    First Psalm, First Genesis. Gnostic and Essene Gospels of Peace, Yamas, Ahimsa

  • @grantjohnston7148
    @grantjohnston7148 3 года назад

    Even murderers shouldn't be behind bars with other murderers, where they get exposed to more violence, making them more violent When they are released into society.
    But the most disgusting fact is a vast majority of prisoners are there for non violent petty victimless so called crimes.
    So why are these people in prison with violent offenders being exposed to violence every day. Than have a criminal record for the rest of their lives.
    And this absolutely means a vast majority of prisoners are victims of the system.
    Insanity hardly coveres these disgusting crimes against humanity.and there are many different ways to hold people to account rather than locking them up like animals.
    Violence begets violence ..

  • @patriciagriffin1505
    @patriciagriffin1505 3 года назад +1

    Many humans get off on violence

  • @billmarshall268
    @billmarshall268 Год назад

    Lady before you go attacking senator cotton why don't you do some research. People are under arrested. Most violent crime isn't solved.

  • @exhainca
    @exhainca 3 года назад +1

    Yes they do.

  • @CH-cd5um
    @CH-cd5um 3 года назад +2

    Prejudice is taught not learned.

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад +1

      @Csh Csh, I absolutely agree. Tell KCALB people to stop hating on ETIHW people.

    • @hn6187
      @hn6187 3 года назад

      Not according to Haidt, religious cultural ideas that shape in group behaviours co-opt information to primitive emotions about disgust. Look at the way chimpanzees treat the Other. The law is supposed to appeal to our reasoned nature, but this is very difficult in religious flawed democracies like the USA

    • @Patrick_Ross
      @Patrick_Ross 3 года назад

      @@lordmask3722 - those acronyms spelled out are what?

    • @lordmask3722
      @lordmask3722 3 года назад

      @@Patrick_Ross , put them up next to a mirror.

    • @Patrick_Ross
      @Patrick_Ross 3 года назад

      @@lordmask3722 - I figured as much. Troll.

  • @wallaceahtone6149
    @wallaceahtone6149 3 года назад

    Mass incarceration is all about how the rich deal with the poorest citizens. It's a crime that goes unpunished.

  • @allcatall3931
    @allcatall3931 3 года назад

    doesn't seem unheard of, that police shows up to ostensibly mitigate some bad situation, and instead death occurs where there was none..

  • @Xavier-uknonada
    @Xavier-uknonada 3 года назад

    100 % true on all statements. Finally more people that have not been jailed speaking the truth.

  • @Happy-uy5wc
    @Happy-uy5wc 3 года назад +1

    We need to teach school age students about jails, prisons and mass incarceration. We need to let them know which crimes people get arrested for and percentages of men to women, etc... Ask them if they have a better idea.

  • @dr.challis808
    @dr.challis808 3 года назад

    I was homeless and suicidal and was told i could call the police to evaluate me and take me to a hospital. They treated me like a criminal

  • @martaakh8105
    @martaakh8105 3 года назад +2

    The most sad issue is when innocent people come to jail for nothing and their real acts are confidental and known only for a few and everything all that remains officially for decades is public defamation

  • @terryholmes1325
    @terryholmes1325 3 года назад

    The same tactics that are used in prison are being used on the public .

  • @moussaouiahmed
    @moussaouiahmed 3 года назад

    .............................................AM

  • @geniir6692
    @geniir6692 3 года назад

    Prisons keep the stock market safe......

  • @rolandboerhof9391
    @rolandboerhof9391 3 года назад

    Europe is doing better. In so many ways

  • @lindaanderson7507
    @lindaanderson7507 3 года назад +3

    We will neither be safe or free until we value, care for and help all people.

  • @rafikbaines824
    @rafikbaines824 3 года назад

    Thank you democracy now

  • @yarajamal1782
    @yarajamal1782 3 года назад

    She speaks very well!

  • @thosethatcan
    @thosethatcan 3 года назад

    5:50

  • @tylerhackner9731
    @tylerhackner9731 3 года назад

    Answer: NO

  • @777wisdom7
    @777wisdom7 3 года назад +1

    These two kill me, if someone breaks into their house
    the first thing they will do is call the Police.
    Prison is too nice in the USA 3 hots and a cot.
    If prison was a lot worse no-one would want to go.
    and if they did go they would never want to return...
    Prison in Russia is a whole different thing much worse.

  • @karengrice2303
    @karengrice2303 3 года назад +1

    I agree that prison is not the appropriate place for mentally ill and drug users. However, I am glad prisons exist for serial murderers and rapists and child molesters.Violent offenders deserve to be locked up and it keeps us safer.

  • @michelleroxy21
    @michelleroxy21 3 года назад

    🖤

  • @LibertyDoctrine
    @LibertyDoctrine 3 года назад +2

    The defendant attorney proved that Derek put his knee on George’s shoulder blade

  • @metalbean813
    @metalbean813 3 года назад

    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    Oh
    [Verse 1: Serj Tankian]
    Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists
    Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids
    Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists
    Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids
    [Pre-Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch
    Right here in Hollywood
    Nearly two million Americans are incarcerated
    In the prison system, prison system of the US
    [Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    For you and me to live in
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    For you and me
    [Verse 2: Serj Tankian]
    Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch
    All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich
    Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch
    All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich
    [Pre-Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch
    Right here in Hollywood
    The percentage of Americans in the prison system
    Prison system has doubled since 1985
    [Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    For you and me to live in
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    For you and me
    For you and I, you and I, you and I, you and I
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison for you and me
    Oh, baby, you and me
    [Bridge: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    Oh, oh
    All research and successful drug policy
    Shows that treatment should be increased
    Oh
    And law enforcement decreased
    While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences
    Oh
    All research and successful drug policy
    Shows that treatment should be increased
    Oh
    And law enforcement decreased
    While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences
    Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world
    Drugs are now your global policy, now you police the globe
    [Pre-Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch
    Right here in Hollywood
    Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal
    Corporate sponsored dictators around the world
    [Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    For you and me to live in
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    Another prison system
    For you and me
    For you and I, you and I, you and I, you and me
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison
    They're tryna build a prison for you and me
    Oh, baby, you and me

  • @dickmoney2946
    @dickmoney2946 3 года назад +1

    Anyone who’s spent time behind bars as a inmate will answer yes. Leave her alone with some of these dudes and girls and she’ll sing a different tune. Her whole premise is ridiculous. Most people don’t commit crime because of the consequences of being caught. This woman has spent too much time in academia and not enough on the streets. This is complete nonsense.🥴