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My point on "victimless crime" and on psychology was that I think prostitution is extremely destructive to the individuals practicing it even when voluntary, thus there is a victim. But that point is almost mute as few John's could know or want to know the actual situation a prostitute is in. Knowing this, I get a bit indignant when the term "victimless crime" is used.

Your thoughts on caning dope heads is a good idea. Its not so much that I think lengthy jail time is a good idea, as it is that there is no good alternative available.

I think one month of truly hard labor would be a far better idea for a pot head than 6 months in jail.

Do I want the three strikes rule to apply to people who mistakenly write bad checks? No. But given that every person who has ever written a bad check says it was a mistake, I'm probably far more skeptical than you about their innocence.

The question is really do I want someone who purposely writes a bad check for $40 as their third strike offense to go to prison for a long time? Yes. Without some better means of punishment, I want people who steal as a career to be taken off the streets.

Should it be three strikes and life for all crimes? Probably not. I would only allow one strike and life for raping a child, or brutally raping or torturing an adult. For petty crimes, I would prefer hard labor for a week for the first offense, a month for the second, and two years for the third. I would then make it five years for each subsequent conviction.

I think parole for good behavior should be eliminated, and replaced with added time for bad behavior.

What should happen to our poor little pot and crack heads? Until the law is changed, they are supporting a violent underground trade, and they should be treated as criminals. Again I would prefer shorter stints of truly hard labor (as short as a week for the smallest offenses), where no work equals no food (or at least bread & water). In any event I think violent criminals should be kept separate from nonviolent criminals.

My observation has been that our system doesn't do a very good job with minor crimes because the people who write the laws make the deterrents with themselves in mind. Thus a night or week in jail is a "major" punishment in their view. However, for the people actually committing the crimes, a week in jail is just laughed off.

I'm sure I sound most draconian to you, but I've had enough of the habitual criminals. Lost in your rational is the reality that most crimes go unsolved. Thus, it is very most likely that a person on their third strike is only on their third crime. This is a reality that is taken into account to protect the innocent.

I am glad we are in agreement on dope heads. Why not treat a guy who deliberately writes a hot check for under a thousand dollars the same way.

Nothing happened to the batch who stole my credit card and bought a thousand dollars worth of cheap meat and gasoline. So why would we allow that batch freedom, but we would put someone who wrote a hot check in jail forever. The batchy credit card stealer is more cunning hence she is more dangerous than most of the poor sobs who write hot checks. I know for a fact that prison would not stop that batch from being sociopathic , but a good caning would probably do the trick.