The Houston Chronicle (a paper that, from what I can see, does a pretty good job of giving equitable coverage to criminal justice issues) has an editorial about how minor probation and parole violations are resulting in crowded prisons. The editorial points out that small infractions, such as meeting a mandatory probation meeting, results in a probationer serving more time. When the probationer was originally charged with a non-violent offense, this policy results in the prisons being filled with non-violent offenders and the state scrambles to house violent offenders.
This makes me wonder when we decided that any infraction of the prevailing morality should result in a jail sentence. I can understand why jail is appropriate for someone convicted of serious, violent felonies, such as murder, rape, robbery, assault with serious physical injury, etc. But let's take vandalism (criminal mischief in Alaska) as an example. Most states have felony vandalism or destruction of property. The distinguishing characteristic between felonies and misdemeanors is the value of the property damaged. In Alaska, if the damage is more than $500, the mischief charge is a felony. Right now, I will not raise the issue that continuing to increase the number of felonies decreases the seriousness of felonies. But if someone maliciously damages my vehicle (which is not much of one, let me assure you), jail is not really important to me. After all, my taxes wind up supporting the guy. Instead, I want my stuff repaired. His being in jail does not really restore my stuff.
I recognize that there is not going to be any political candidacy that promises to be 'soft' on crime, but why does being hard on crime mean the same old thing: making more crimes, making more misdemeanors to be felonies, and adding jail sentences and fines to existing punishments. Why not look at some other options for some of the lower-level, non-violent felonies and misdemeanors? Just a thought.
ur website sucks my big balls
Posted by: mike hunt | January 31, 2005 at 09:01 AM