definition for: #changeisnecessary

The criminal justice system has exploded since 1980 increasing over 600%. Our criminal justice oversight including incarceration, probation, juvenile detention, and parole is 2280% or nearly 23 times the per capita rate versus the rest of the world. I believe that classifies the United States as a police state and, while the reasons are many for this explosion since 1980, we must push back against this horrific injustice. Much of this increase involves lower court or "petty" crime arrests and convictions and significantly includes a monetary motive for local governments' incomes to pay for local services and has exasperated low-income and minority neighborhoods by massive trolling in those neighborhoods for comparative "speed trap"-like financial motivations. Such activities operate under the radar until we have police shootings pertaining to such heightened activities.

We must establish lower court watchdog supporters in communities across the country to counter this abuse and draw attention to this debacle. Criminal Justice reform efforts have been substantial. However, the focus has been largely related to felony actions and procedures. These reform efforts rarely address the area of this virtually unknown abuse and the heaviest volume of actions target the under-represented minorities and the disenfranchised.