You are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

0
1

[–] JohnPaulJones 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

That's a specific complaint. If you have a specific complaint about drug law, stump for change in drug law. As far as going to jail for not paying a civil fine, that is clearly not a common outcome and you can once again stump for a specific change. If you have complaints, either put forward a better solution or keep them to yourself.
Also you failed to address my basic concern. Prison is a necessary evil for a civil society. I would rather not put rapists on the streets. If you remove those words from the constitution you will be faced with either release or kill as a framework of justice which seems much more barbaric than this so called "slavery".

0
0

[–] SeanBox [S] ago 

Someone can be in prison without being a slave. I'm talking about changing the very definition of justice. It would change the lives for the millions of people already there and the millions more that will inevitably follow in their footsteps. The debt isn't even being "paid to society" anymore with the private prison system making the profits from the American people's human labor.

0
1

[–] JohnPaulJones 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

When you go to prison you are "serving time". It is justified firmly under the 13th amendment. The reason this language is in the amendment is to ensure that the practice of involuntary internment is still legal after the abolition of slavery. While I understand complaints about for profit prisons this is not how to address this. Every word in our constitution has enormous consequences. While you might read it one way, others will read it another. We should never seek to change the constitution lightly and any such changes must be highly scrutinized. As far as being in prison without being a slave, no they can't. Even if prisons are turned into paradise, stays there would still be by definition involuntary servitude.