PRIORITY OF LAWS NEEDS TO BE QUESTIONED

Laws are a necessary part of any functioning society. They represent
a moral and practical standard by which all people are judged and
held accountable. Laws are the basis for all industry and provide a
benchmark by which any dispute can be settled. The problem with laws
is that sometimes the government goes overboard and begins exacting
them which, make little to no sense or laws that are put in place by
corrupt powers to help special interests.

In a democratic system, the government is representative of the
people it serves and the law is supposed to be exercised by the
people. Therefore, in my opinion, the law should be something that
the majority of people agree on and follow. Breaking the law should
not be something that a majority of people do on a daily basis;
however, in this country everyone at one time or another has broken
the law even if they didn't realize it. That is why I am perplexed
at how the democratic nation of the world, the country that sets
the benchmark for a functional democracy, has the largest
populations of imprisoned individuals around the world.

Since we do have freedom of information from the government, the
statistics for our legal system are readily available from the
justice department. Here are some of the highlights from the most
recent statistics available: the United States currently has over 4
million people on probation, close to 2 million in prison, close to
1 million in jail and another million on parole. Overall, 7 million
people are under some form of correctional supervision. That makes
up just over 3 percent of the total population, or one person
incarcerated for every 31 in this country. While I don't doubt that
some of these people are serious criminals, this is still a large
amount of the population to be imprisoned. Furthermore, high prison
counts places a heavy burden on taxpayers to support these
criminals- about $60 billion dollars per year.

A large portion the inmates in prison are committed because of drug
offenses. I find this to be the first major problem with our prison
system. To put desperate drug addicts into jail with violent
criminals turns drug addicts -- sick people in need of serious help
- -- into life-long criminals. Not only do prisons expose criminals
to a network of new connections with other criminals, but they also
can expose people with new drugs which contribute to their downward spiral.

If the goal of the police and justice system is to protect and
serve, why do they take people who get into a bad situation and turn
them into lifelong criminals with no way out? I feel strongly about
the drug issue in particular because it is quickly becoming
an epidemic in adults. It is the only major offense (felony) that
is not seeing a downward trend in recent years. In fact, adult drug
arrests since 1970 have increased at a nearly exponential trend with
juvenile drug arrests staying relatively constant. In 1970, there
were approximately 300,000 drug arrests while in 2005 there where
over 1.5 million. That is an absurdly high number of drug arrests
especially considering my doubts that there is a greater percentage
of the population using illicit drugs today than there was in the
1970s. I am certainly not condoning the use of illicit drugs, but
when it seems like so many people are using and arresting people is
not making an impact, maybe finding more a! ppropriate and effective
ways to help people would be productive.

Following my guidelines for the justification of a law in a
democratic government, several laws should be repealed or at least
reevaluated. Traffic laws and speed limits are nearly impossible to
follow and in many cases impractical. Any police officer will tell
you that if he or she wants to pull you over and is willing to
follow you a couple blocks, they can find legal justification to
pull you over. Alcohol laws are ridiculous and have led to
intensified desire for underage drinking as well as producing a
binge drinking mania. Drug laws imprison sick people with an
addiction disease and in the end exact more damage than
good. Public order laws are also too strict and further take away
from people's freedom. For example, noise levels are a matter of
respect and common courtesy between neighbors and not an issue for
police involvement. In the end, laws like these detract from the
police's ability to catch true criminals with malicious intent and
in general ! create a fear by the general public toward the justice
system. The justice department doesn't seem to understand that
negative reinforcement is a minimally effective teaching tool,
especially since they have to expose every person to the
negative outcomes before behavior begins to change.

For some reason unknown to me, the government has made it its
priority to define the moral standards for its people through laws.
Isn't that religion's purpose and doesn't that defy the principles
of freedom? Perhaps the answer to criminal problems is not more
jails, but fewer laws. Also, instead of passing a law and
stealing people's money until they become obedient, why doesn't the
entire tone of the justice department change. A suggestion that may
make a difference: change "speed limit 65" signs to "please drive
65". When laws are set up for our own well-being and safety, asking
the people to help themselves will get a larger response
than demanding and punishment. And after all, the people pulling
you over are the people who are supposed to live by your side,
protecting and serving a democratic nation.