Making room for drug offenders (Bryson)
August 19th, 2008 | Published in Morality, Quotes, Politics
Because most drug offenses carry mandatory sentences and exclude the possibility of parole, other prisoners are having to be released early to make room for all the new drug offenders pouring into the system.
In consequence, the average convicted murderer in the United States now serves less than six years, the average rapist just five.
Moreover, once he is out, the murder or rapist is immediately eligible for welfare, food stamps, and other federal assistance. A convicted drug user, no matter how desperate his circumstances may become, is denied these benefits for the rest of his life.
—Bill Bryson, I’m a Stranger Here Myself (Broadway Books: 1999), p. 91.