Hat tip The College Fix
Oh, how our universities get around the rules. Out here in California we have another slate of voter propositions to vote on next Tuesday including Proposition 47, which would let even more criminals out of prison due to a reclassification of certain laws from felonies to misdemeanors. Read how the little rascals in the student government manage to influence gullible students into supporting this monster.
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/19913/
"The group aimed to educate peers on how the law will affect sentencing for stolen handgun possession, date rape drug possession and repeat offenders at a rally on Tuesday afternoon that also decried the misuse of their student fees."
If rape and sexual assault are such big issues on college campuses, why would anyone support lowering the penalties for date rape drug possession?
Just asking.
2 comments:
Yeah, the problem is that the law is a blunt instrument. We need to refine the laws so that really dangerous people are consistently put away, and people who are not persistently dangerous have opportunities to put their life back together and move on. The laws on the books, and the way they are enforced, are not particularly good at either one right now.
The real problem is that probably at least 10% of the "adult" population just seems to insist on being stone fools. Of that 10% many, even most, seem to do everything they can do to get their first trip to the joint, then do everything they can to get out, and then again do everything possible to go back in. Just look at how many people there are with LONG rap sheets for multiple felony convictions, not just arrests, and they still end up back on the street.
The known recidivism rate is around 67%. Given unsolved crime and other factors, this, of course, necessarily means that some higher figure, perhaps as many as 80%, or even more, of all violators re-offend. Hard to calculate it.
And people who are "not persistently dangerous" normally have ample opportunity to straighten out. Most if not almost all first offenders get probation, say for a year. And when they re-offend, as they usually do, we really show them by extending that period of probation by a year or so!!! Followed by brief periods of confinement. Over and over again.
During that time, they get a taste or two of city/county jail, and maybe even a little touch of prison. Even that is apparently not sufficient deterrence, so perhaps even prison to them is not what it is to the rest of us.
I most certainly support EFFECTIVE prevention programs in the first place, and EFFECTIVE after-the-fact rehabilitation efforts as appropriate. Fact remains that "persistent" offenders, violent or otherwise, need to be incarcerated (or in some instances executed) both for purposes of punishment as well as for protection of the individuals within the larger society.
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