Should black people in the US receive longer prison sentences?

No.

I don’t think “white people seem to need less deterrent.” I know this is a generalization, but I think that whites are, on average, wealthier than blacks. More money = better lawyer(s) = shorter (or no) sentence.

Also (generalizing again) less money = worse raising of children = more desperate living situation = predisposal for criminal likeliness.

I might be slightly biased towards prison, because I don’t think imprisonment is a good consequence for most crimes, but this isn’t as much of a prison question as it is a race question.

A “modest proposal” indeed!

If they already give blacks longer prison sentences, and they are still committing more crime, it logically follows that this whole deterrent argument is bogus.
Instead of continuing to give blacks longer sentences, all should receive the same sentences, including women.

Does this mean we can put more black people in professional sports, pay them more money than white athletes, and give them better contracts than white athletes as well?

@Blackberry I think you’re on to something there. And what about Black entertainers?

What the fuck? No, we shouldn’t.

@Blackberry I see what you’re trying to say, but I think that’s different. Sports teams are privately owned (I think?) and therefore should be able to pay their employees whatever they want (as long as it satisfies minimum wage requirements.)

Jailtime, on the other hand, is not comparable to athletes’ paychecks. No “group” should have a higher/lower sentencing structure based solely on race.

@jfos I am aware. My answer was sarcastic. My real answer is no. This modest proposal is asinine.

No, what a way to cloak a racist sentiment in “helpful” sentiment.

Flame bait is flaming.

No, of course not. Nor is it right that it is happening.

If someone commits a crime, someone commits a crime. Race and gender don’t contribute to the heinousness of a crime. I think that all criminals regardless of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic background etc. etc. should serve the same amount of time for the same crime.

If a white guy shoots you, you’re just as dead as if a black guy does.

Also, I don’t think that black men make up 40% of the prison inmates, I think that people who live in the inner city make up a huge chunk of the prison population and many of them happen to be black.

And, yes, I think that women should get the same sentence as men. Once again, if a woman shoots you, you’re just as dead as if a man shoots you.

Just a note to folks reminding them that this is a modest proposal.

@SmashTheState: I figured that was the reference you were making, but it still is an interesting question to debate over.

Uh, all men/women, White people, Black people, Red people, Green people, and one-eyed people eaters should be treated fairly and with justice under the Law!

No. I’m not sure where you heard that women receive shorter sentences than men for the same crime. Not so in my state.

You are being ironic, yes? I am giving you the benefit of the doubt.

The whole penal system is in shambles. It’s useless and ineffective. It doesn’t need to be changed it needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in a manner that conduces rehabilitation.

I think I know a joke when I see it. But that aside, the premise starts incorrectly. 40%of prisoners are black 15% of population is black. If that unbalanced relationship had any meaning at all, then 50% of all prisoners would be women. But they are not. And it is not because they are not getting caught. And when they do get caught and sentenced in many cases the sentence reflects the fact that women tend to be less violent and more able to be rehabilitated then men. So not all of your premises are correct, joke or not.

There is no objective scientific difference between a white person and a black person save some trivial phenotypical differences.

@dpworkin: And if you go back far enough, we’re all black anyway.

Poppycock!

“We would have to be scrupulously fair, of course. We could use scientific instruments to determine the Angstrom range of the surface of the convict’s skin, then use a simple multiplier based on the darkness of the skin to increase the sentence length. The contrary would also hold of course, in which the lightness of a convict’s skin would serve to decrease the overall prison stay, since white people seem to need less deterrent.”

My SO just pointed this out to me as I did not read that far. Really? I honestly can’t put into words how incredibly…... the darker your skin, the longer your prison sentence? It’s disgraceful that anyone would think on that level.

@SmashTheState

You’re evil…. ;-)

Good plan….. might as well eat their children. sarcasm

Imagine my luck when the prosecution have asked for me to go to jail for five years (based on my milky white skin) and in the time till sentencing i visit a tan studio and go to jail being mocca coloured?

[Citizen’s mod says] I’m sure you two could settle outside of this discussion.

Can’t we all just get along ^^b

I still don’t know what was supposed to have been poppycock.

Poppycock.

My one word answer.

Meaning….longer sentences for blacks is poppycock.

Let the sentence fit the crime not the color.

Oh. I agree.

lol

@dpworkin @Coloma Maybe you two should take this outside.

@josie

It’s done.

Besides..I don’t do dark alleys. lol

As long as Chiefs of Police, Prosecutors and Judges are elected, they will represent the views and fears of the rich and socially favoured, even when Caucasians cease to be the majority in the USA.
With such institutionalized bias, minorities will continue to be poorer and they will have poorer legal representation and they will get longer sentences, especially where juries are not made up of peers of the accused.

If the system were any more corrupt, courts and legal procedures could be more economically replaced by systematic discrimination and punishment. Oh wait, you have that already!

[mod says] Personal attacks are not permitted. Please remember to disagree without being disagreeable.

I love you Augie. And your little dog, too.

loll

Damn. I hate when I miss the good stuff.

@tinyfaery You can’t have a life and expect to keep up with the good stuff on Fluther, don’t you know?

Well, thought this was a social question. My comments were not attacking anyone!

But I was just cleaning. Damn!.

Don’t worry guys. I got this.

Their increased crime rate is not due to their blackness, but rather due to their socioeconomic conditions.

So here’s the solution:
Give poor people longer prison sentences.

Incarceration solved. No need to thank me. Just doing my job. I’ll be back to solve another mystery next week. Same Sarcastic hour, same Sarcastic wisdom.

@Sarcasm FTW!

removed all by my lonesome!

@BoBo1946 Um… I did.

@SmashTheState sorry…my bad!

How can anyone have thought this was a serious question?

How do you spell “gullible”? F-l-u-t-h-e-r-i-t-e

whatever the reason maybe, we cant blindly put up such a law, especially in a country recovering from a bad racial history. an idea of such great magnitude should be considered heavily before implementation, less it should result in another racial clash.such cases demand one to look into more details than simple percentage.

@FutureMemory

And you’re surprised at this. Very few people bother to read links included in a Q and fewer yet read links further along (Thus missing the baby eating modest proposal) so what prevails is a knee-jerk response to a half-read question.

Subtlety is not the strong suit here. And if a curmudgeon in a bad mood succeeds in derailing things, so much the better.

And you find this surprising. Gullible indeed :)

You are being sarcastic, right? The modest proposal is a reference to the of Jonathan Swift essay. Wikipedia summary I am a little surprised by the extent of the gullibility here. First, there is the tongue in cheek way you presented the question and the Modest Proposal reference. Then there is what a person can figure out by your name and avatar and previous answers to Fluther questions.

@SmashTheState Yet another great question from you. Dripping with irony this one is.
My hat is off again.

Should racist questions on Fluther receive more than 61 responses?

How is this a racist question? It seems to me he’s using irony to attack racism and sexism…

@HungryGuy Some folks on this site seem to have a hair trigger

@mattbrowne The OP specifically mentioned A Modest Proposal. Definitely satire.

@augustlan I think most other people did not know he was being satiric because of what he says in his other posts.

@Facade Do not agree. OP often uses sarcasm to good effect. Don’t agree often, but OP gets points for style and consistency.

By the way, what the heck does OP mean. Always a slow study.

OP = Original Poster

@janbb Thanks for your help. Sometimes I feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Okay, I retract my counterquestion. My fault. I misunderstood.