the only way to stop violent drug crime is to legalize it. you can't outlaw anything.
I kinda like the Phillipines moves....but I'd just let the junkies off themselves, or execute them when they commit a crime to get drugs. Never understood why we save someone who overdosed due to their own actions.
The problem is that too much stuff is plea bargained away with slap on the wrist sentences and short probations. Too much stuff just gets swept under the rug and allowed to happen again. Get tough on crime, stay tough on crime and continue it at all levels. Don't just make it the police's job to be tough on crime - make sure that the prosecutors stay tough on it. Don't just make it about a number of convictions, because then they just plea away a drug deal down to jay walking just to get ANY conviction and the perp is out on the streets again. There are some rogue police officers many times because they have seen too many legit arrests go south because of bad prosecution.
How many offenses does it take for a prosecutor to finally say, "No plea bargains for this one"? How many times have we seen long rap sheets for people in the news? I blame weak prosecutors for not keeping them off the streets.
When I worked in Detroit, we had one short term employee that was let go for drug use (on premises). He did have some criminal activity on him prior to us hiring him, but it was minor and explained away easily. After he was let go, his "friends" filled us in on the real scoop behind his arrests, convictions and plea bargains. His breaking and entering, pistol whipping a security guard and theft in a convenience store was plea bargained down to shoplifting. Not long after being let go, our shop began getting broken into. He knew were stuff was so he was able to get in quick and smash and grab stuff and get out before the alarm could fully activate and get police attention. At first we didn't put two and two together. Then, he was spotted with a shopping cart in his neighborhood and computer monitors that matched what we were missing (he thought a "computer" was just the screen - he never stole the actual CPU). When approached, he ran. Instead of pursuing him, they stayed with the monitors. At least we got them back. Meanwhile, we secured the inner office with a new metal door and blocked up my only window with brick and glass block. He was back two days later with a sledge hammer knocking out glass block and swiping the same stuff. This time, leaving a trail of blood after crawling across the broken glass block. When we called the police again to report it - this time with DNA evidence (this was right around the time of the OJ trial, so blood DNA evidence was all the rage), we were told that it was too much hassle to collect it and just to clean up and "hope they catch him". Perhaps he bled out, because the break-ins stopped, but it sure would have been a LOT less hassle on us if he had been dealt with properly the first time.
