www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWBu4jfhMI
Our research project aims to capture how the individual perceives and is affected by CCTV surveillance in Astoria of Queens, New York. Through qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and participant observation, we found that all respondents were unanimously in support of CCTV surveillance. Security cameras have become a norm in the public spaces of urban environments, where people see it as a means to deter crime and expect to be surveyed by CCTV systems, unseen or seen.
Many people on the right are very suspicious towards undocumented people. In recent years, many Conservative leaders have taken very extreme stances towards the issue. But that might change soon.
Jed Bush, one of the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates, had this to say. “But the way I look at this — and I’m going to say this, and it’ll be on tape and so be it. The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn’t come legally, they come to our country because their families — the dad who loved their children — was worried that their children didn’t have food on the table. And they wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.”
As we know already, Senator Marco Rubio, another prominent Republican, lead a bipartison push for comprehensive reform last year. And know Jed Bush seems to be taking a much more moderate stance. Could this be a sign of the Republican Party shifting away from the far Right?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/06/jeb-bush-many-illegal-immigrants-come-out-of-an-act-of-love/
As requested, I’ll try to give a brief overview of the Prison-Industrial Complex (PIC). And I’ll add some links at the bottom if any of you want to do further research.
Most prisons in America are privately owned. The more prisoners the prison has, the more the prison companies profit. There are a bunch of reasons for this, but a big one has to do with labor. Prison labor is extremely cheap, since most wage laws don’t apply to prisoners. And then the company can sell the products of the prisoners’ labor, without giving the prisoners themselves much of anything. As you can imagine, this creates an incredible amount of profit.
Despite being “the land of the free”, the US has the highest number of prisoners in the entire world. While many countries focus on rehabilitation and education in prison, the US focuses on retribution and punishment. A retributive model is in the best interest of the PIC since it puts more prisoners in the system and keeps them in for longer. The PIC ensures that the status quo doesn’t change through two main mechanisms.
First, it uses its amount of money and power to influence the justice system. Judges and politicians can receive “help” so long as they push for retributive policies. So both the PIC and the politicians win at the expense of the population.
Second, it convinces people that retribution is necessary and moral. While the majority of criminals are victims themselves, the PIC tells people that all criminals are monsters who deserve their fate. It also plays on people’s fear of what’s different by demonizing racial and sexual minorities. Sixty percent of those incarcerated are people of color. Drug laws are a good example of the discriminatory nature of the PIC. White people account for 69% of drug arrests and black people account for 29%. Despite this, black people are 20 times more likely to be incarcerated for drugs. And nearly half of the prison population is black.
I’m assuming that virtual slavery, corruption, and racism are enough to make you hate the PIC. But there are even more problems that it causes. Most notably, despite the PIC’s claims that harsh, retributive punishments are necessary to stop crime, it actually creates even more crime. Locking criminals up treats the symptoms the cause. Lack of education is a major cause of crime. Seventy percent of prisoners haven’t finished high school. Over 50% are illiterate. An obvious solution to decrease crime would be to increase funds for public education, so people don’t have to turn to crime. The problem is, the PIC has consumed so much wealth pushing for retributive policies, there is much less to invest in education. Moreover, many rehabilitative programs involve basic education. But since the PIC favors retribution, there are very few of these programs. So once criminals get out, they often have no other choice but to resort to crime again. Thus, creating an endless cycle of crime.
So why isn’t this a big issue? Because no one cares. The PIC convinces people that retributive policies are needed for protection. And it primarily targets people that the majority are already afraid of (namely African Americans). And politicians don’t anything because they benefit from the PIC. And due to the PIC’s tremendous influence, speaking out against it would be political suicide. So all we can do is sit around and talk about how much it sucks.
If you want to read some more on this
http://www.publiceye.org/defendingjustice/overview/herzing_pic.html
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tio-hardiman/african-american-males-fa_b_2981163.html>
http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/prison.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/13/end-the-prison-industrial-complex-now/]
http://www.washburnlaw.edu/wlj/51-3/articles/fulcher-patrice.pdf
Washington State just passed a law yesterday allowing children of illegal immigrants access to state grants and financial aid for higher education. This law is extremely important for Washington’s ever growing Hispanic immigrant population.
The affected group still has to overcome some hurdles though. They have to go through three years of high school to qualify for aid as opposed to just living in the US for a year.
An interesting part of this was that this bill was created by a bipartisan coalition of policymakers. While Republicans elsewhere often are very hostile when it comes to immigration, Republicans here passed a very pro-immigration bill. It probably has to do with the fact that because of the increasing number of immigrants, Republicans know they will lose office if they hold on to their old-fashioned beliefs.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-26/news/sns-rt-us-usa-immigration-washingtonstate-20140226_1_financial-aid-state-grants-new-mexico
Hi, I’m Thomas. I’m 18 years old and I’m from the Morris Park section of the Bronx. For my major, I’m currently torn between psychology and political science. In my spare time, I watch movies, play video games, and hang out with friends. An current issue I care deeply about is LGBTQ equality.
I’m have a bit of most Western European countries in me. I’m Italian, German, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, and Belgian. My dad’s side of the family is mostly Italian. My great grandmother came here during the early 1900s. Everyone married Italians until my grandfather, who married a woman from Belgium. My mom’s side brings in the diversity. Due to constant emigration, I can trace my ancestry back to several countries.
