Posted on 02/17/2020 8:05:52 AM PST by karpov
...
The visceral, retributive reactions to Mr. Madoff’s petition, including from liberals who claim to want to end mass incarceration, reveal the obstacles to transformational criminal justice reform. The truth is, there is only a small number of entirely “sympathetic” people in prisons who could be released without any scruples by the public or affront to their victims. Those incarcerated for violent offenses compose a vast majority of our prison population, in spite of a false narrative that most people are in there for nonviolent drug offenses. The pain and harm experienced by their victims is real, and that’s also true for Mr. Madoff’s victims. But criminal justice policy cannot be constructed in response to our feelings about individual, high-profile cases — the so-called worst of the worst.
This “worst of the worst” argument, for example, has long undergirded the death penalty, which still stands in 30 states despite its racial and class biases and other flaws that have led hundreds of innocent people to death row. It is also part of why the Democratic presidential candidates, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, don’t support the enfranchisement of those in prison. But creating a separate category for Mr. Madoff, sex offenders or those “others” in the criminal justice system will not help end mass incarceration. There will always be another high-profile case that can impede the implementation of more humane policies.
Those on the left who press for criminal justice reform emphasize “empathy” in their attempts to reframe the conversation about people who have committed crimes. Conservatives use the word “redemption.” These words carry a profound responsibility: What do they mean for sympathetic and unsympathetic prisoners? There are 200,000 people over the age of 55 incarcerated in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
So we'd have to release people like Madoff. No!
Has anybody asked the victims?
We could release everyone over 55 and still be safer. Violent crime is by and large the province of young men.
How many senior citizen bank robbers are there? I rest my case.
Let Bernie stay!
“So we’d have to release people like Madoff. No!”
So, we let FBI liars walk and Trump supporters get a life sentence for the same crime. Is this an upside-down world or what?
Let Madoff out. He’ll fit in just perfect with the NYC crowd.
It’s cute that this author thinks the Democrats are motivated by some notion of fairness or the rule of law, so that convicts like Madoff “must” be released as part of any criminal justice reform. We see what all that concern about prosecutorial abuse, the rights of the accused, and “restorative justice” is worth when the accused is someone like the Duke Lacrosse players, George Zimmerman, or Roger Stone.
This view is perfectly consistent. Criminal justice reform, for them, has nothing to do with fairness, actual justice, or even good policy. Both “reform” and the justice system itself is a weapon to be used against the left’s enemies, “white supremacists,” the “patriarchy,” and “capitalists.”
If we release senior criminals, they’re highly unlikely to reoffend: Its just common sense.
I’m in favor of keeping younger criminals locked up for good. I’m as law and order as they come.
But its a waste of money to keep grandpa locked up until he dies.
Except Roger Stone and General Flynn.
Everyone over the age of 55 was once 50. Everyone 50 was once 45, ... Our actions at age 20 were conditioned on our expectations of the future.
By your logic, if I am 49 and robbing a liquor store, I might as well kill any witnesses, and reduce the chance of a conviction, since the penalty for armed robbery and multiple first degree murders is the same: six years.
Its who to lock up. Prison space is expensive and we ought to reserve it for the worst of the worst and those who constitute an ongoing danger to society.
The FBI has stats on recidivism by age and race. An old fart in prison for a white collar crime usually learns his lesson. The youngsters don’t. You can read daily where New York or Los Angeles with their liberal release policies arrest the same people over and over. The CBP is probably the best source.
Bureau of Justice Statistics looked at felony arrests by age
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aus9010.pdf
Releasing people over 50, if it made room for peak-felon age (30 and under), would make our streets safer.
Of course, executing after three violent felony convictions would do even better.
Emptying the prisons is a really bad idea.
There are very good reasons to keep people incarcerated.
We should give senior criminals probation and call it a day.
Richard Pryor said it best: “Thank God We Got Penitentiaries!”
No I’m not in favor of releasing violent criminals. That will make no one safer.
A convicted white collar criminal is unlikely to commit white collar crimes again. They were able to commit their crimes by getting into positions of trust. These days, all employers do criminal records checks on applicants.
Who is going to hire someone with ANY felony conviction for any job that involves handling money?
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