America can do lots of things. Doesn&#x27;t mean it will. 
The prison-industrial complex will not allow falling incarceration rates to eat into its profits - too many executive bonuses depend just the opposite. And not just private prisons - there bloated police budgets and military gear that will otherwise - <i>gasp</i> - go to waste.<p>And don&#x27;t get me started on the DA&#x27;s who must always appear &quot;tough on crime&quot; to get re-elected by an ever-fearful populace that is convinced that various boogeymen are planning its demise 24&#x2F;7&#x2F;365.<p>But ultimately, it&#x27;s about money. Always has been. And this country values profits above <i>all</i> else. And if a few more thousand innocent people need to get imprisoned and have their lives destroyed - well, that&#x27;s a price that we, as a society, are willing to pay.<p>As long as WASP-y suburban <i>white</i> America doesn&#x27;t feel the pinch. As soon as some unannounced no-knock raid by a SWAT team decked out like it&#x27;s Fallujah circa &#x27;05 busts in and shoots up a bunch of 18-year-old &quot;all-American&quot; kids, prom queens and cheer-leaders and judges&#x27; daughters and sons and all. Then and only then will you see a real outcry.