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News Stories relating to "jail"

The Real Cost of Jail

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
It's sometimes hard to determine the REAL cost of things.

The United States has the world's highest rate of jail incarceration, perhaps because the private the private prisons springing up across the country provide local jobs. But if the prison population shrank...
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Popular Furniture Brand Originally Built by Political Prisoners

Friday, December 28, 2012
When we're searching for simply-styled, low-cost furniture, fixtures and accessories, many of us head for Ikea. But there's something most of us don't know: This Swedish company originally used East German prisoners who were incarcerated for their political beliefs, to create these products.

In the November 16th edition of the...
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Should We Be Nicer to Criminals?

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Justice is different in different countries. In Mexico, they don't feed you in prison--if your family doesn't bring you food, you'll starve. US prison conditions vary, but our sentences are long compared to prison sentences in Europe or Scandinavia. We may not be...
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Thousands of Innocent People in Jail

Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A national registry has compiled a list of over 2,000 wrong convictions since 1989, since DNA testing became common. And reevaluation of old DNA testing is freeing innocent people from jail every day.

In the May 21st edition of the Los Angeles Times,...
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Detecting Crimes BEFORE They Happen

Friday, November 11, 2011
If we could do this, we would be faced with the necessity of arresting and incarcerating technically "innocent" people, which would upend our entire constitution and body of laws, in the same way that torturing suspects at Guantanamo has.

This may be a possibility...
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Those Who Can't Go Home for Christmas

Monday, December 27, 2010
Around this time of year, our thoughts turn to the people who will NOT be going home for Christmas. How do people cope going from prison back into society? Not well, which is why so many of them end up back in prison, usually sooner rather than later.

Psychologist...
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