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Comment by kkwak | Hacker News Reader

While there are injustices, what percentage of the jail time is due to actually breaking the law?

Isn't it valid to put people who break the law behind bars?

A) The laws have been specifically designed to allow targeting of certain populations (the "War on Drugs" has had a hugely disproportionate impact on non-white Americans).

https://www.vox.com/2014/7/1/5850830/war-on-drugs-racist-min...

B) Non-whites are way, way more likely to be arrested (despite similar rates of drug use), and receive harsher penalties.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324432004578304...

The list goes on and on... "Broken windows" policing results in targeting of minority communities. Blacks and Hispanics are significantly more likely to be targeted under "stop and frisk" laws, despite equal (or lower) hit rates for contraband discovery when compares to whites.

War on drugs. Is there a particular reason why weed is a necessity? Why isn't it fair to have banned it?

That argument is nonsensical... Just because something is "not a necessity" it's reasonable to criminalize its possession?

Eggs aren't a necessity, there are plenty of alternatives available. Should we ban them too?

If the law is just and fairly applied.

If you make a whole bunch of laws that huge swaths of the population violate, and then use them to put subgroups you don't like in prison... it's not so "valid".

I'd argue that depends on 1. laws being put I to place for strictly rational reasons, 2. arrest decisions do not depend on race and 3. punishment magnitude is equal for equal crimes.

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