[marcz]

I have to say it's a pity that thread died as I would like to take Rich to task on that subject.

I don't know what the show was that you were watching Rich but I fail to imagine a single positive aspect of the American penal system. I once worked for a State Government Minister whose Department studied the U.S. system and it was bloody appalling. Their justice and penal systems are a mess, varying wildly from State to State, and generally provide next to no rehabilitation of those who find themselves caught in it.

In fact, what the right-winged Americans (and similarly aligned groups in other countries) seem to want is just the thing they decry as barbaric behaviour, eg: Sharia Law.

So, what was it in this show you were watching that appealed so much?

PS: have you ever watched the movie, Ghosts Of The Civil Dead? You should! Even though it is a fiction, it is very firmly based on the privatised system so popular in the U.S. and it will leave you feeling quite disturbed!