Why do so many people think that snitching is worse than crime?
102344
If you are going to do something (like selling drugs etc.) and you get caught, then you should take responsibility for your own actions. You knew the risks and took a chance anyway. Unless you were somehow forced into something, there is no one else to blame. The only honorable thing to do is take whatever is coming to you. Snitching is laying the consequences of your actions on someone elses shoulders and that makes you not only a law-breaker, but a dishonorable, dishonest, law breaker who cannot be trusted.
869686
The problem with the justic system is that people lie a lot. The accused lie. Alleged victims lie. Cops lie. Attorneys lie. As a criminal defense attorney, I've had cases where I knew the victim was lying (and, in at least one case, was found out to be right when months after the case the "victim" was charged with the crimes for which I was sure he was lying about), but the District Attorney didn't believe me. He believed the cops version. The offer was probation and the down side was life in prison. It's all about avoiding risk, so, of course, the client takes felony probation to avoid life in prison. It's all about who you believe. DNA isn't perfect, but the public believes it is. Fingerprint analysis is not perfect either. There are no national standard for fingerprint analysis. Most analysts are not certified. But the public believes fingerprint analysis is perfect. (Look at the Oregon attorney whose finger prints were found to be very similar to prints connected to the terrorist bombings in Madrid, but who had never been to Spain and had nothing to do with the bombing.) The public thinks that cops never lie but they do. A couple ex-cop friends of mine tell me that cops lie regularly on the stand and in their reports to make sure that the courts find their traffic stops legal and to identify suspects. But who wins the credibility game beween a defendant and a cop? The cops always win unless they really mess up. The system is just too subjective. It relies too much on determining who is lying and who is not and one just can't really ever know when someone is lying.\n\nI suspect that most accused are guilty. The trouble is that many are not and go to prison for nothing. How many, I don't know. I suspect it is a lot. And prison just makes it worse. Most prisoners learn nothing but how to con more folks and commit more crimes. They get out and no one will hire them, because they are felons. And our get tough attitude in society make more and more people into felons. Stress on the outside makes felons turn to drugs and crime. Prison and branding people felons makes the situation worse.\n\nThe trouble is that I don't know what the solution is. More drug programs like Delancy Street in San Francisco. It has a 90% success rate. I'd rather see the government spend its money on that than on prison. But the prison guard unions (particularly the one in California) has too much power and would not go for that. More prisons are better for them as they don't want to solve the problem but want to get more pay for members and more members (as one can see by the union's lawsuit to stop California from exporting prisoners to out of state prisons to help on overcrowding, which solves the overcrowding problem but makes it less likely there will be more prisons and, therefore, fewer union members). Someone needs to figure out what we are going to do with the millions of people behind bars in this country. I wish I was smart enough.
472859
For. Part of our problem in this country is lack of punishment. Without the threat of punishment crime goes wild. We need to make the punishment fit the crime and stop letting people off on technicalities.
760414
Civics! wohoo! lol thats my 4th period class! \n\nDo you believe crime is a serious problem in the US today? \n\n- Yes There are to many deaths and wrongs happening today..People are getting robbed or killed for useless reasons.\n- People aren't being punished enough.  They get a life sentence to jail but it seems like they get out after 30!\n-  Peoples cases are just stupid! the serious cases are put aside for cases about people oweing someone else money for something stupid!
390201
To one degree or another, all criminal laws are ineffective, because we have to try to achieve the conflicting aims of controlling the undesired behavior while minimizing the impact on the rest of society, including the conviction of innocent people.  Where there is a law that seems to be particularly ineffective, it is usually either because it is not a very popular law to begin with, or because the subject matter of the law makes it difficult to catch all the bad guys in the law’s net without catching too many innocent people.  That’s not a direct answer to your question, but maybe it helps to explain why the problem exists in the first place.
573418
Having worked in a half-way house for ex-offenders, I learned that long sentences don't always discourage illegal behavior.  Especially in drug dealing.  Many of them consider it just a "cost of doing business."  Also, the "King Pins" quiet often use young children to do the dirty work while I DON'T justify dealers, just the opposite, many times the authorities will make a plea agreement with the lower echelons to get further up the ladder.  The real solution is EDUCATING the public so as to eliminate the demand for the drugs in the first place.  How many questions come through here seeking ways to obtain, use or get out from under charges of drug use?  As long as people are unwilling to face life, as is, then there will be dealers and "King Pins."  There are always predators seeking to take advantage of the weak.
1115972
Crime is up because society has done away with discipline\ncant spank kids at home\nschools cant correct behavior\n\nRemove all right and wrong and society implodes\n\nMy opinion
344008
Sure I have, Everyone i know has at some point or another. It's called Dry Snitching. Most of the time it's done without you even realizing your doing it. So don't feel bad your not alone.
684953
these are all stupid ideas & are proven not to work. 3 strikes law only insures the judicial system is bogged with cases better served by fines. death penalty is no deterant; crackheads still kill for a hit, husbands & wives still kill of jelousy & insurance scams, bent minds are still preditors & kids still enact the rapsong in pursuit of their 'rep'. same thing with life. rehab is useless as those who are criminal remain criminal & those who are marginally criminal are better served in society & working, feeding the economy & paying heavy fines & restitution. more prisons means more taxes & a worse human product upon release. halfways can be lucrative but are the same as rehab. i spent 3 years in prison for a pot charge. no violent history, no victims, ect. the idea that society is victimized is absurd. the same rational could be said relating tbhhe number of traffic deaths to exceeding the speed limit. there are various levels of offense. murfer isnt necessarilly the worst if its accidental or inpersonal. the mind is the key & is subject to its environment. a mind thats compylsively violent, locked away, labor, suicide missions, ....not much for them. nonviolent crimes are best taken by case & usually are better served as revenue (fines & restitution). too long of an answer emil me if you want more of my input.
888621
No, this is not how it is. The problem of our justice system is quite the opposite. The majority of today's prison population consists of the offenders who have been convicted of drug charges. If only about 20 years ago, if you go to a maximum security prison, you will mostly see murderers or robbers there. Today, however, most people there are drug dealers and drug users. For the drug users, I believe is where the system fails: they need to be treated, not sent into a maximum security prison.
607163
the real criminals are to dangerous or dealing for the cops. it's easier for them to pick on law abiding citizens who will take their crap, without fighting back.\never notice how the cops have an excuse for any wrong they do, very scary...
691103
Not all laws are Godly laws, and there are corrupt people in all professions. I would say sometimes the people in law enforcement over step their bounds and even to the point of killing someone, but this doesn't mean all people in law enforcement are acting ungodly.
670455
I agree, prison is not always the answer, for some it just makes them worse!
770968
I.D. cards are irrelevant. Successful deterrents will lower crimes rates. We have to stop this "You naughty naughty felon, don't do that again" attitude to criminals
615702
NO, it does not. It's absurdly expensive as the sentences are so long. There's barely any rehabilitation going on, and for the most part too many ppl are admitted for very long sentences who have not done serious crimes. Once you go through hell that most jails are you won't come out the same! And usually you won't come out a better person either! On top of that recidivism rates are extremely high when compared to other countries, i.e. in Europe. Some state prisons have recidivism rates as high as 20-30%. So no, too many do not become productive members of society again. I think there's a problem how the system works in itself, it might be successful at punishing, but not rehabilitation, in either case it should focus in prevention, and not be just a reactionary system. Some states, I think Florida and California will be soon among them if not yet, are spending more, or at least the same for education as prison systems. Now, doesn't anyone think there's something wrong with that? Right now US is jailing more than 2 million individuals... That's equivalent to a small country! There's clearly problems with the system, as well as the the way that society sees it and how they regard crime itself. Putting someone in jail as long as possible is not going to change anything! It's what he does in that jail that matters, not how long he stays there. So, if you think it's a good idea to fill the jails up with criminals, - fill them up, then build more max security prisons at 10 grand a cell, and fill those up as well, just don't come to me when it's time to pay taxes. And pray that once those criminals get out they don't come to you for anything, cause they'll be pissed. It's something to think about when you see the next politician boasting how he'll be tough on crime just cause it's an easy way to get votes, and felons can't vote, so he got nothing to loose, it's the society that does.
621834
So Americans...listen up.. as long as you only commit misdemeanor crimes it is all good! Heck, why we are at it lets just take all misdemeanor crimes off the books...no more traffic fines, shoplifting is ok...heck America will be a much better place!
990755
You know what, you are unsure of yourself because in our society we consider a person who "tells" as a rat, fink, snitch, etc. We have all of these images of the guy in prison that gets shanked because he talked. Well forget all that crap. It was an informant that lead to Hitler's hideout. Cigarette companies didn't voluntarily say "Hey, these f---ing things will kill you" All those negative connotations have been invented by people who where doing something wrong and don't want it to be found out. I ask you, if some priest was molesting your kid and somebody told you, would you say "You fink, how could you rat out a priest!" or would you say thank you, as you reach for a 357 in order to make that priest truly wholly? You didn't do a damn thing wrong so don't feel bad. They should feel bad for having put you in that sitiation.