Taking your son to a homeless shelter isn't a good choice. It's a choice you make when you have no other options left. If there had been any good men around willing to take care of us, she would have been with them. But there weren't. My mother did the best she could. Sometimes there are no good choices.
It's much, much easier to just assume that if they're in prison they belong there.
Or maybe they ended up in prison because they were stupid. Either way, prison should be thought of as rehabilitation first, punishment second (for the people who really ****ed up, like the drunk driver who killed a family), and quarantine last (for the narcissistic psychopaths who probably can't be rehabilitated).
Exactly how many decent, financially stable, eligible bachelors do you think there are in impoverished, rural, backwoods America? Let me give you a hint: it's not many. I doubt there were a hundred such men in the entire county, let alone ones that would be interested in supporting a single mom and her child. Even if there were, you think my mother should have whored herself out to any man, just to pay the bills? That would have been a "good choice", according to you? It was that kind of thinking that got us stuck in an abusive household in the first place.
A friend was wrongly jailed for something he didn't do in Arkansas. The way he described it, it was a 3rd world hell hole. I also believe he was framed by local law enforcement and his lawyer and the judge were in cahoots. He's free now after spending $60,000 dollars on a lawyer, jail, and other penalties.
Gee, I don't know, maybe it was her ABUSIVE BOYFRIEND.
So now you think we should have hitchhiked across the country? A single mother and her child? Yeah, that sounds safe.
If only every man took their familial responsibilities so seriously. This is the real world, where people have to make the best of what they have. Not what they wish they had.
he didn't work? he watched your mom 24/7? he locked your mom in a room with no window? no way to call the police?
I think one needs to do what they need to do to make a better life for themselves and family.
plenty of men provide for women
He might as well have. We were trapped. He controlled every aspect of our lives. My mom had to move mountains to get us out from under his thumb.
That's exactly what she did. It meant making some very difficult choices. We both had to make sacrifices. We both suffered.
And where were these good men when we needed them most? No one was lining up to take care of us.
My least favorite is "He'll get his in prison." No. That was not the sentence, and if vigilante shit happens in prison, the warden should be fired. We are the number one nation for incarceration rates. Other inmates should not be able to dole out random punishments.
You were not trapped. However, your mom could have felt that way.
So she had a choice. What are we discussing again?
Men don't just line up. As I said, your mom needed to move to a populous city and then approach 100 men a day asking them out on a date.
Sorry to hear it. I'd encourage him to report it to a group like the ACLU, the media, and see if a lawyer things he has a way to challenge it. And their legislators.
I was trapped, because I was a child. She was trapped, because she needed him to support herself and her child.
She had choices. Just not good ones. Only bad ones, and less bad ones.
Leaving our house to be homeless in the big city on the off chance that we could find a man to take care of us isn't the great solution that you seem to think it is. Again, I can tell that you have suffered no real adversity in your life, or you wouldn't be saying such stupid things.
Unfortunately the punishment continues after they've done their time. Conviction can mean a lifetime of underemployment as a record can bar them from even janitorial jobs.
You're still missing the point....a lot of people are in prison for drug possession, not dealing.
Yep. I've got kids, and I am worried about how to explain to them that a simple ****up can follow you for life. I'm worried, because I don't think that I could have explained that to myself as a kid. I have had to submit to full background checks and even consumer history checks to get jobs in my field. If something pops up, the next person in line gets the call.
Do non violent offenders even need to be imprisoned? Germany and other European countries avoid doing so, relying on fines and community service for offenders who aren't a danger to the public.
I'm open to other solutions for drug possession. The libertarian in me says if you want to destroy your body and mind with narcotics and the like, it should be your prerogative. The question I always struggle with is how much of the burden from the consequences of those choices should be placed on others.
