tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4777750410141759635.post-89244049633961853702008-03-01T09:20:00.000-05:002008-03-01T09:20:00.000-05:002008-03-01T09:20:00.000-05:00Thanks Tony, for your attention to this issue. It is a blight on American society and culture, and should move us as a society to reflect on what it is in our shared civic and social life that leads to this reality of so many incarcerated. Sure, some of the dramatic increase in prison populations has to do with laws - laws of the kind that Tony talks about. But there are other causes that contribute as well. Poverty and the systems of injustice that perpetuate poverty are rarely discussed by our political leaders - and almost as rare are churches who see as their mission the prophetic task of engaging the larger community to address the violence of poverty. The mere fact that the overwhelming majority of those behind bars are poor should disturb the church.<BR/><BR/>So much of the last 25 years we have witnessed an well organized effort to drain our shared, public resources - public schools, public parks, public transportation, public programs, (even the military)-and privatize them. Programs that are designed to lift those at the bottom of the social and fiscal scale have been seriously challenged. The demise of a sense of civic responsibility for the public good parallels the movement to privatization. It has had serious consequences for our shared society, and has created a nation where 1 in 100 are behind bars. We need to regain a sense of what it means to live in a community where we address the factors that lead to the scandal we now find ourselves living in.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03317613721196432992noreply@blogger.com