Posted on 11/29/2013 11:24:37 PM PST by Olog-hai
“They treat him like a dangerous criminal.” Judith Minor has had to live with that reality for the last 13 years—ever since her son Ricky disappeared behind the bars of Yazoo City Jail in Mississippi because he had drugs worth a handful of dollars on him. He was sentenced to life without parole—something his 76-year-old mother just cannot fathom.
But his case is no exception in the US justice system. It could be a pair of socks, a slice of pizza—many petty thieves serve life sentences in the US. Ricky Minor’s offense was carrying one gram of methamphetamine. …
“These sentences are the direct result of laws that were passed over the last 40 years, as part of the war on drugs and tough-on-crime policies. Those policies led to the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, three-strikes laws and other mandatory sentencing laws,” (Jennifer) Turner told DW. Those laws stipulate sometimes draconian punishment for petty crimes. In some states, like Louisiana and Florida, the three-strikes law puts anyone in jail for life who has been convicted three times. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.de ...
Three strikes, you’re out. He knew the stakes going in and did it anyway. Let him rot
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IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME, DON’T DO THE CRIME. PERIOD.
Don’t worry. Eric Holder is on it:
“A vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities,” Attorney General Eric Holder said recently, when he announced an overhaul of the justice system. Under his plans, petty criminals serving drug-related sentences are to be released.
only time i’d disagree is if crooked cops set someone up. like someone who never used drugs having a cop toss a bag into their car.
I think, considering that there are so many little laws on the books that any one of us now could potentially run afoul of the three strikes law, that’s a very stupid thing to say and I hope that you don’t end up facing the prospect of one of your children being in this position.
Secondly, real justice does not mean bringing punishment to a level where nobody dares commit a crime, for that is an impossible task and it certainly is unbiblical. Real injustice involves giving out retribution in proportion to the crime done.
Third, it’s the argument that, for the safety of the community draconian laws need to exist, the Constitution is being rendered null and void.
You see, he’s not “serving life for a slice of pizza.”
He’s serving life for possession of meth while on probation as a two-time loser.
The pizza has nothing to do with why he’s in jail.
I agree with you to the greater extent - especially if some of the crimes are petty. I do wonder where this kid would have ended up later though - killing someone in a robbery or smashing some other poor kid beyond recognition.
What people refuse to believe but behavioral psychologists know is the the potential for extreme behavior later shows up when these kids are young teens or even pre-teens in this sought of behavior. I have worked with youth and in Security and if there is no possibility of early, parental supported, intervention at a very young age then it is only the possibility of them hearing and accepting the gospel that will turn them around.
Mel
Well said. Too many here want to live in a police state as long as it’s a Republican police state.
What if they tossed a bag in someones car THAT had history of drug abuse?
Don't think it will happen? Do you think you could have convinced anyone that Barack Obama would happen 40 years ago?
Because the crime is in proportion for the rest of your life in jail. Ridiculous.
and if he does somehow get out on parole, he’s got years of education and training in real crime.
While I agree with you that somebody who, is prone to doing petty crime certainly needs to be monitored to see if he is becoming progressively more dangerous, it is my experience that petty criminals usually stay petty criminals, unless they are subject to conditions that force them to do worse things, such as having to mix with more dangerous people in the state prisons.
That does not mean I don’t support holding the petty criminals accountable for their actions. A better plan would have been to, for every time he stole a couple of pieces of pizza, convict him and have him pay it back doing things like pulling potatoes at some farm for the weekend.
If the person doesn’t have the level of awareness or self-control to not stop doing petty crimes, and spends his life doing chores for the public good, there’s really nothing fundamentally wrong with that. He will, in the end, give back to society more than he’s taken.
Certain posts like this always shake out and expose the closet liberals.
Life for this silliness? Are you some fascist fanboy? You know how much is being stolen by lobbyists in ethanol?.contracts in Chicago? Pals of Nancy Pelosi....Tom Delay?...Bloomberg...Corzine...And they’re eating steaks at the Palm on are dime while we’re spending a million putting some idiot away for life?
My impression of people who believe that amping up the punishment until a person wants to be good, have a misunderstanding of human nature. When you’re always hitting somebody hard enough, fast enough, and often enough, you don’t get a person who desires to be good. You end up with somebody who becomes hardened It’s and more likely to commit worse acts than he previously,committed, because his conscience has been seared.
It’s one of the reasons why some communities experience more violence, because it is what the greater society has subjected them to.
The sad thing about this article is that it comes from a continent that has outlawed habeas corpus completely. That’s aside from the journalists taking the ACLU seriously.
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