2.2 Million U.S. Prisoners

The headlines on May 22, 2006 shows there are 2.2 million people in jail in the United States. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12901873/

American men constitute one third of the men in the world who are behind bars. http://christianparty.net/incarceration.htm

There has been an increase in the number of women in prison due to drug law violations.

There simple are too many laws in the United States. It is too easy for a citizen of the U.S. to violate some law. There are drug laws, environmental laws, child abuse, domestic violence, voter fraud, tax laws, etc, etc.

The way to reduce the prison population and the huge unnecessary cost to society is to repeal some of the laws that punish someone when there has been no victim. Such laws are possession of an ounce of marijuana, or prostitution.

The reason these laws will not be repealed is because the law industry benefits from having so many customers. The judges, lawyers, DAs, court clerks, prison guards, cops, lab technicians, psychologists, DEA, FBI, ATF, etc. etc. All of these groups have their union organizations and association, like the American Bar Association, lobbying each state's judicial committee for more work. The district attorneys and judges are members of the bar associations.

In a democracy millions of people who have opinions wish for those opinions to become law. Many states prohibit convicted felons from voting. Many of these felons would vote to eliminate some of these laws. These same felons might vote to defeat a judge or district attorney who is corrupt and intoxicated with power.

People who have opinions want it to be illegal to cut down a tree, ride a bike without a helmet, and other absurd laws. These opinions are formed for them, not by them. Most people ignore logic and stick to what they have been taught in forming their opinions. A Muslim and a Jew both have their opinions formed for them by others. These opinions lead to each trying to legislate their opinions into written law. Before writing, most laws of opinions were unwritten and enforced by community pressure. As the community and tribe grew and writing became common, more opinions became written law.

The law has become perverted. It is now legal for one group to force their opinions on another group. It is also now legal for one group to plunder another group.

Bilbo Baggins