A New Adjective in that Sentence

Crime rates have risen and fallen over the years, sometimes it’s the violence that dissipates, and sometimes it’s white collar or drug crime that takes a drop… Then one category or another will rise with the changing seasons and the volatility of the economy. The one correlation no one has found to be effective is linking the number of people in prison or the length of time of average sentences with any reduction in the crime rate. With costs of incarceration averaging as much as $40,000 per year, you’d think that conservatives trying to save money and liberals trying to reform the justice system might just come to the same conclusion: our judicial system and our sentencing laws just plain don’t work and cost us an arm and a leg to boot.

Well jail-fans, surprise, surprise! In one of the few arenas where conservatives and liberals are beginning to see eye-to-eye, it’s in the colossal waste we call our criminal justice system. We seem to have come to understand that incarcerating a quarter of the world’s inmates while having merely five percent of the earth’s population is not a statement of effective law enforcement; it’s evidence of abysmal failure. Half of all crimes are drug-related, and half of that half involves direct consumption or dealing. And the habits and issues behind these drug crimes call for some radical changes in the way we convict and sentence offenders.

A felony conviction decimates future job potential, and too much time in any prison exposes even minor and first-time offenders to lessons in criminality that most certainly do not benefit society when they are released. There is no real benefit to educating someone in crime and then turning them back to society with an exceptional limited basis to earn a legitimate living.

We’ve watched as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced some big changes in federal sentencing. Lower level drug crimes will focus more on follow-up and treatment than jail time, and the mandatory minimum sentencing rules left over from decades ago are being scrapped where they do not make sense. “‘Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason,” [Holder] said… In making the change, Holder questioned the effectiveness of the country’s so-called ‘war on drugs,’ which included tough, one-size-fits-all sentencing policies that date back to the Regain administration.

“The U.S. prison population has increased by roughly 800 percent since 1980, with nearly 1 in every 100 adult Americans in jail or prison… In addition, prison systems now cost states more than $50 billion annually, up from $11 million in the 1980s, according to Right on Crime, which has support from such conservative leaders as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese and tax reformist Grover Norquist.” FoxNews.com, September 29^th. Emphasis on treatment and monitoring in lieu of jail time would seem to be vastly more effective.

Not to mention that we really can no longer afford the cost! Prisons are massively overcrowded. California is dumping inmates, some of them dangerous, on to the street to comply with a federal court order mandating humane incarceration from this out-of-control overflow.

A.G. Holder notes further that widely differing sentences seem that seem to apply to differing races are “all too common.” “That issue also is being raised by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, co-sponsor of the bipartisan Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 that would allow judges to sentence offenders below the mandatory minimum in some felony drug cases… ‘Each case should be judged on its own merit,’ said Paul, the libertarian and potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate, who cited the case of a man named Edward Clay who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of less than 2 ounces of cocaine, despite being a first-time offender.” FoxNews.com.

So what’s that dynamic adjective missing from the title above? “Shorter” would have to be the word. How do you feel you are being served by your state and federal criminal justice system?

I’m Peter Dekom, and the more commonality we can find across the political spectrum, perhaps this country’s politicians can eventually relearn how to compromise with each other.