----- Original Message ----- From: "Luke Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu>
The vast majority of US prisoners (including black prisoners) are guilty of the offenses they were charged with. Very, very few (if any) could be properly described as political prisoners. It might well be true that black criminals are more likely to go to prison than white criminals--but from this purported fact alone nothing in particular follows. One might (fallaciously) infer that there are "too many" blacks in prison, but someone else might infer (with no more, and no less justification) that there are "too few" whites in prison.
Be that as it may, the lib/left argument that we ought to focus on reshaping our society such that crime is a relatively less appealing option in the first place is a good one. Kids with college degrees and job prospects make for unlikely crack dealers (of course, the lib/left argument that we ought to decriminalize most drug offenses is also a good one).
-- Luke
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The parenthetic statement of your last sentence render your first two sentences very problematic.............
Ian
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