Wanna stop crime?
Burn the constitution.
The reason America has one of the highest crime rates, and the largest prison populations is because Americans have more rights and more freedoms than any other country on the planet, bar none.
We don't realize it, because most of us rarely travel outside our country. And we tend to believe that countries like Canada, Europe and Oz and elsewhere are just as free as we are and the Police are just as restricted in what they can do. But that couldn't be further from the truth.
One example is Miranda rights. I can't tell you how many criminals have been set free based on technicalities with Miranda violations. No other country has the same Miranda guarantees that we do. Others have watered down versions, but nothing as concrete as ours and so what doesn't pass here, will pass there.
The police in this country have more restrictions on them than any other country and that translates into more rights for you and me, but also more crime, because it's harder to catch criminals, and it's harder to prosecute them. Over time, many people realize they can literally get away with murder and that just exasorbates the problem.
Because people feel like they can do whatever they want, low level crime has dramaticly increased, among a segment of our population that feels they are entitled to more than they have. And that is now rarely prosecuted or sentences are extremely light because of overcrowded jails, and thus more and more crime is commited by the same offenders and their friends and family.
Back in the old days, our constitution wasn't interpreted like it is today and consequently, crime was low, but at the same time, the Police could be and often were brutal. Sometimes killing people they believed were criminals, without any evidence or even a threat. So, there is another end to this spectrum.
Today, it's the price we pay for freedom, because human nature is anything but humane. As far as the solution...it's hard to say. I hesitate to turn back the rights that we have, but I know violence and crime will only increase.
Frankly, I think the only reasonable solution is that Americans be allowed to protect themselves, including with guns and more and more prisions be built, even at that their great expense. Another solution would be that our society gets away from the idea that we will take care of people and feed them, no matter how stupid they are, how careless they are about their own life or the life of others. In this country, no one starves and no one goes without a roof over their head or clothes on their body, except by choice. There are government and private programs to feed, cloth and house everyone, even able bodied idiots who simply want to leach off society.
In the old days, if you were able bodied, but chose not to work and chose not to be productive member of society, you either turned to crime, which meant you were usually caught and removed from society...or you died of starvation. And consequently, more people live responsible lives.
But I doubt we'll ever go back to those days either...that is until the day comes that we can no longer borrow our economy into prosperity and the government can no longer feed people by printing money. Once that day ends, then look out....and believe me, owning a gun for protection will be more important than ever before in the history of this country.
