The Criminal Justice System Sucks

Today I was watching the show Jail and I saw a young lady come in there charged with prostitution. The girl said that she had a drug problem and had been selling her body to feed her addiction. She had a daughter that the state had taken away from her and she had been in and out of jail several times on drug related offenses. The girl said that she was caught in a cycle of using drugs, selling her body to get drugs, getting arrested, getting out and living on the streets, and then doing it all over again.

Looking at this girls story just plain confused me, if the person keeps going to jail over and over again then at what point do we decide that jail doesn’t cure addiction? First you say the drugs are illegal and she goes to jail for that and then you say it’s illegal for her to sell her own body so she goes to jail for that. The way I see it this girl hasn’t committed one crime against another person or property but yet she is being carted off to jail over and over again. What the justice system is saying is that they are protecting this girl by not allowing her to sell her body or use drugs. The government is claiming that they are doing her some service by placing her in jail for months on end but in all of this service that the government is claiming to be giving people why is a home not included?

I’m not saying that everyone should get a home or have their needs taken care of by the government as a matter of fact I think that most people can and should stand on their own two feet but the problem is that the government feels the need to get involved in a person’s life to a certain point then just leave them hanging. Do you think that this girl couldn’t sell her body for a place to stay if you didn’t make it illegal? If prostitution was like any other 9 to 5 just, would she have lost her child to the state? I have to question if the state is putting people in a better or worse predicament by arresting them for harming themselves. It just feels like they are saying “we care enough to put you in jail but not enough to really help you when you get out.” I say help them all the way or just leave people the hell alone.

Let me know what you think

What has become of the holidays?

Today, I was on Facebook reading other people’s pages and wondering how much of what I was reading was true and how much was a ploy for sympathy or attention. I looked at some pictures of friends and their kids and read countless posts complaining about everything from traffic to deadbeat dads. What actually caught my attention was something that wasn’t there, something that I had gotten used to seeing around this time of year and had grown to love to hate. Where was all of the blind, crippled, crazy holiday optimism? Where were all of the ridiculous Halloween pictures of three year old dressed as ladybugs and pumpkins? Normally, by this time most people would be talking about going to visit family for Thanksgiving and some people would already be working out their Christmas plans. I found myself torn between appreciation for that fact that I don’t have to see how nice Little Billy looked in his Power Ranger costume and the feeling that the world had changed.

The holiday season has changed from a time to be with family members that you can’t really stand and give thanks for the fact that your many hardships didn’t kill you to a time to isolate yourself and gain even more distance from humanity. Why no pictures of Little Billy, because half of the most people have stopped bothering to go trick or treating with their kids. Why no Thanksgiving and Christmas plans with the family, because with the divorce rate being what it is most people don’t even have a family left to go home to.

I used to dread the holidays because it was the only time of the year that I felt nothing was good enough. The job I worked at was sub-par, someone’s relationship status was always better, and hell even the kids became a competition. Seeing family for the holidays can be like crossing the interstate on foot and just trying not to get hit. Even with all of that, the holidays always felt like a time to connect with family and even people that you didn’t know. Hearing stories about another person’s Christmas or Thanksgiving disaster made us all feel a little bit better about our own family. I enjoyed comparing how much candy I got from trick or treat with other people and making fun of how stupid everyone else’s costume was (because whatever I had on had to be cool).

Now, look I’m not saying that I will ever be a holiday fanatic but what I am saying is for all of the anxiety, inconvenience and depression that the holidays bring, they also bring us together. Maybe your family does tap dance on your last, hanging nerve and maybe it is easier to just spend the holidays playing video games, watching YouTube and binge eating but what are high calorie foods and mindless entertainment without the people you love to share it with.