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