This happens exceedingly rarely. The thing you should understand about the American court system before judging it is that non-murderers rarely get sent to prison for more than a year for a first-time offense. If it’s truly non-violent drug possession or dealing then in all likelihood a first-time offender won’t get more than probation. The prison system is not creating felons by punishing people too harshly.
Look at the kid sent to prison for 7 years for threatening to shoot up his school on runescape. That’s one of those examples of a way over-harsh punishment only given to send a message. The kid didn’t fall in with a bad crowd because he was never a bad person. Prison doesn’t force good people to become murderers when they get out. This kid did his unjust sentence, got out, and he’s still a nice a dude.
It’s fairly easy to picture violent criminals as similar to you but unlucky to have grown up in a worse situation or been screwed by the system. It’s hard to understand them as they are: people who are incredibly different from you and have a value system that is not aligned with society.
This happens exceedingly rarely. The thing you should understand about the American court system before judging it is that non-murderers rarely get sent to prison for more than a year for a first-time offense. If it’s truly non-violent drug possession or dealing then in all likelihood a first-time offender won’t get more than probation. The prison system is not creating felons by punishing people too harshly.
Look at the kid sent to prison for 7 years for threatening to shoot up his school on runescape. That’s one of those examples of a way over-harsh punishment only given to send a message. The kid didn’t fall in with a bad crowd because he was never a bad person. Prison doesn’t force good people to become murderers when they get out. This kid did his unjust sentence, got out, and he’s still a nice a dude.
It’s fairly easy to picture violent criminals as similar to you but unlucky to have grown up in a worse situation or been screwed by the system. It’s hard to understand them as they are: people who are incredibly different from you and have a value system that is not aligned with society.