The Point of Prison
July 27, 2008
The point of prison isn’t to find out why they call it the pokey. Susan Atkins, a former Manson Family member, is wasting away in prison with cancer, amputations, and generally at death’s door step. She applied for parole because of these conditions and was flatly denied. This was as much a political decision as anything,simply because of how famous her crimes were. This however violates professional ethics, common sense, and probably good economic policy.
The point of prison is not to punish criminals for their crimes, it is to keep society safe from them while we supposedly rehabilitate them. We give out life sentences and order the death penalty because we believe they can not be redeemed and society will not be safe if they walk the streets. Such is the case of Susan Atkins. At least it was the point of Susan Atkins incarceration.
Let us flash forward three and a half decades. Susan Atkins is dying. She has terminal brain cancer. She has had a leg amputated, and from some accounts suffering mental problems. The parole board said no to her request for release, why? Does she continue to pose a threat to society? No. Will releasing her jeopardize the political careers of some people? Quite possibly. So rather than doing their job the board members chose to save their own ass and not follow the basic tenants of incarceration.
Not only was that decision against any sort of professional ethics, it doesn’t make for good common sense either. California prisons are already overcrowded and underfunded, removing those that are no longer a threat to society from this system is the easiest way to fix the problem. They do not have to be let to roam the streets without supervision, but neither should the be kept in prison past the point of it being useful. Secondly hers and others illnesses is hitting this system hard financially. Medical care in prison is very costly, just the guards used when she was transported off site has run the system over three hundred thousand dollars, let alone the nearly two million her care has cost. This is care that would have cost ten percent of that outside of the prison system. This is a stupid waste of money and resources.
No matter what happens we can’t bring back Sharron Tate or the others Susan Atkins had a part in killing. I am not saying we should forgive those crimes either. I am however saying we should release her to her husbands care, because there is no valid reason to keep her incarcerated. She might enjoy that last bit of freedom, but so what, the point of prison was never to punish her.
Child Molester Walks Free In Florida
July 23, 2008
(CNN) — For nearly two years, the South Florida middle school art teacher forced the boy to have sex in a classroom supply closet… But a year later, Mohanlal has yet to spend a day in prison.
I personally am shocked and horrified by this. At first reading I wanted to rage and scream. Then I wanted to know why. Wanting to know why, left me with the unmistakable need to blame someone.
In asking myself how this could possibly happen, I didn’t like the answer I found. This judge is known for being a conservative, in a place where they steal elections for republicans, ban adults from paying to hear 2Live Crew from saying “Fuck”, and think anyone who advocates teaching evolution as an alternative theory to creationism in public schools is a dangerous liberal. It is a place where teachers on summer who go to the beach in modest bikinis have lost their jobs for showing too much skin. If the bible belt runs through Ohio, then Broward County Florida is the tip of the dick. If a conservative judge in a place like that can give a post trial bond to a child molester, it can only mean one thing. The prosecutor fucked up so magnificently that this case will be over turned, and this judge is playing CYA, for himself, the county and the state.
I shudder to think what the prosecutor must have done. Simple mistakes are one thing, people aren’t perfect. But if you do something so blatantly illegal that a child molester will have to be kept out on bond while they wait to hand you your ass, I get far more than angry. I hate prosecutorial misconduct almost as much as I hate child molesters. I just can’t fathom how you can go forward with a case that leaves little doubt, and then deliberately do something illegal to let him walk free. There days when I think Lennin was right and we should should all the lawyers.
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
June 26, 2008
The Supreme Court has finally ruled on the Second Amendment case they have been mulling over for months now. They have in fact ruled as I thought they would in favor of gun owners over the District of Columbia’s ban. This is no big shock considering the makeup of the current court. What may come as a shock to those of you, who know me a liberal, is I am in favor of their ruling.
The Second Amendment doesn’t exist so people can hunt. It doesn’t even exist so you can protect your home and property. The Second Amendment was written and has remained in the US Constitution for one reason alone. The Second Amendment is the reasoning by which the revolutionaries justified their war of independence. The Second Amendment only protects our right of rebellion. Read more
Are You A Criminal
June 3, 2008
It is most certainly election season again and the right wing is up to its I am tough on crime bullshit. I just saw my first ad campaign proclaiming how a republican is going to be tough on criminals and save the world for middle class law abiding white folk. Bullshit is all I have to say.
I have to question how many of those middle class white folk the commercial showed as victims are criminals themselves. I am sure most people of any race or class never think of themselves as criminals. I am also pretty sure most of them willingly participate in crime, making them part of the criminal element. So what crime do I accuse all these fine people of? Speeding… Read more
The Unspoken Reality of Niche Crimes
May 21, 2008
We have gone too far this time in niche laws and micro niche terminology. NFL player Charles Grant, of New Orleans Saints, has been arrested and charged with feticide. That means he is being charged with killing both a woman and her fetus. The laws have gone too far.
Is it more of a crime to kill a woman than it is a pregnant woman? Do we really need an extra crime with different penalties? Do we really need to make up shit just to impress the media? Fact, this idiot was involved in a gunfight, whether he did the actual shooting or not, and this woman is dead. Why do we need so many extra laws when the people who make them have a hard enough time abiding by the ones we had?
The fact is I know what this law is on the book and I dislike it even more than most, extra laws. This law exists for anti-abortion activists who hope and dream of one day charging doctors with murder. These are usually the same people who coincidentally say the government shouldn’t be interfering in people’s lives. Of course they only mean theirs and only when it comes to paying taxes or providing welfare for other people.
Aside from this being a niche law put into effect to satisfy someone’s constituents it also puts us in a very slippery situation. If we are to define a fetus as a person and child in their own right, we must apply the law evenly across the board. Pregnant women who drink or smoke are abusing their children. Pregnant women employed in potentially dangerous environments would be guilty of child endangerment; this includes waitresses who might be around a lot of second hand smoke. Miscarriages for any number of reasons could make a woman guilty of negligent homicide.
Not only are the serious crimes potential landmines, but the ones where the data is questionable could lead to all sorts of legal implications. If a pregnant woman and those they interact with don’t do everything every study says is beneficial they would be guilty of at least neglect or violating the fetus’s human rights and dignity. Imagine telling your boss he must now address your expanding belly as a person because you are both employed here now. Imagine the battle over some women not putting headphones on the bulge to introduce music. Imaging the battle if you play it AC/DC over Bach?
If any of that sounds silly then the entire notion of a law giving legal personhood to a fetus should too.
