Sheriff Joe

[dilligaf]

I tend to favor public humiliation--it is much cheaper and far more effective, especially for first time offenders.

Shoplift at Walmart? Stand in the public square wearing a sandwich board with the words "I Stole From Walmart" on both sides.

​I agree!

 

[dilligaf]

+1000

It breaks my heart when I go to my AA meetings and see young black guys with minor criminal records for petty drug offenses who are doing everything possible to try and stay clean and straighten things out for themselves...only to run headlong into the inability to get a job because of their background. The reality is that many of them are guilty of doing nothing more serious than I did when I was young and drunk and stupid...but in my case my drug of choice (alcohol) was legal and the cops that I came into contact with were white like me and so they cut me some slack that they would not have given to a person of color under similar circumstances. The so-called "war on drugs" is destroying far more people than the drugs themselves, it is blatantly racist and corrupt, and our prison and legal system will continue locking up an ever-increasing number of our young people...a disproportionate number of them black....until we as a society finally seek another way. One definition of insanity is to repeat the same action over and over while expecting the result to be different. Our system has been effectively insane for a long time now.

It takes 2 to tango and the criminal was the first one to take the step in that dance. I feel no sympathy for someone that won't help themselves. Sure, give them one chance after that they made their choice. Last night I was watching NGC about the county jail in Seattle. They had a woman on, a young black woman about 30 years old. She had a felony conviction for drugs. The court allowed her to go into drug rehab to avoid the conviction. She dropped out repeatedly. On her 'last chance' she dropped out again. The judge wouldn't give her another chance and I don't blame him. She was in tears because now she has a felony conviction. Poor baby, she had her chance and blew it.

 

[moreluck]

I'm still amazed when I watch the cops programs that a guy will be caught.....he's got a regular drug store on his person and the cop will ask......is there anything illegal in the car? And he'll say.,"No officer, sir."

They'll search the car and find more drugs, maybe a gun and paraphenalia.......why do they contiue to lie when they are already going down??

 

[soberups]

It takes 2 to tango and the criminal was the first one to take the step in that dance. I feel no sympathy for someone that won't help themselves. Sure, give them one chance after that they made their choice. Last night I was watching NGC about the county jail in Seattle. They had a woman on, a young black woman about 30 years old. She had a felony conviction for drugs. The court allowed her to go into drug rehab to avoid the conviction. She dropped out repeatedly. On her 'last chance' she dropped out again. The judge wouldn't give her another chance and I don't blame him. She was in tears because now she has a felony conviction. Poor baby, she had her chance and blew it.

My tax dollars would be better spent allowing this woman to go onto some sort of medically supervised drug maintainence program, coupled with education and job training, rather than incarcerating her.

Odds are she is a felon because she (a) dealt drugs or (b) committed property crimes in order to support a drug habit.

Its not the drugs themselves that cause the criminal behavior...it is the inflated black market cost for those drugs that cause the criminal behavior. Take away the black market...allow that woman to register as an addict with a medical problem and get generic methadone or morphine under a doctors supervision from a pharmacy for $3 a day instead of on the street for $500 or $1000....and she will no longer need to commit crimes or prostitute herself in order to obtain that kind of money. Get her out of the criminal justice system and into a medical system for a fraction of the cost, both financial and societal.

Look at the narco-anarchy, violence, and corruption that plagues Mexico. The reality...is that it is nothing more than free market capitalism at work. Supply and demand. It is our money that corrupts their society, and our demand for illegal drugs that fuels the black market that they supply. Want to beat the drug cartels? Its easy....undercut their price. Put them out of business by offering their best customers (addicts) a cheap, LEGAL product at a fraction of the cost. What we are doing now simply fuels the violence and increases the profits to be made by giving the criminals a monopoly and allowing them to charge whatever they want for their product to customers with a medical condition (addiction) that compels them to do whatever they can to afford that product.

We have been beating our heads into the wall for years on this deal, and its not the wall that is bleeding.

 

[menotyou]

The war on drugs, as they have termed it, is a joke. If drugs(especially marijuana) were legal, how much less government would we need?

 

[menotyou]

And let me add this- I know a kid who was 'dealing pot' as a way to make college money. (this was 20some years ago) The kid was going to school and working three jobs. He didn't ingest. He didn't sell to kids. He only sold pot. He wasn't dealing in pounds, either. He was arrested and given a record for life. I look at it as he was making the most of his money and being extremely capitalistic. Why he was punished is so far beyond me. If he were a gas station selling cigarettes, he's still be in business. What's worse?

 

[moreluck]

The laws state what is legal and what is illegal.

Change the laws is all you can do.

 

[menotyou]

I know. I just get irritated at the absurdity. Cigarettes are legal. As a former smoker, I know how vile they are.

 

[soberups]

The laws state what is legal and what is illegal.

Change the laws is all you can do.

There are powerful forces at work that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Change will be slow and difficult.

 

[menotyou]

There are powerful forces at work that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Change will be slow and difficult.

So very sad, but so very, very true.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

There are powerful forces at work that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Change will be slow and difficult.

I think it is NYC that has been talking about a way to reduce the burden on the court system. Rather than prosecute cases of possession of small amounts of pot they will simply give the person a ticket with a predetermined fine. No record.

 

[bbsam]

Well said, sober. Well said.

 

[soberups]

There are powerful forces at work that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Change will be slow and difficult.

I think it is NYC that has been talking about a way to reduce the burden on the court system. Rather than prosecute cases of possession of small amounts of pot they will simply give the person a ticket with a predetermined fine. No record.

Oregon decriminalized marijuana in 1973. Possession of less than an ounce is a civil infraction, comparable to a jaywalking ticket or failing to license your dog, with a maximum fine of $500. Too bad the Federal govt cant follow suit!

 

[moreluck]

Laws can't even get the friggin' people off their phones while driving !!!

 

[roadrunner2012]

I tend to favor public humiliation--it is much cheaper and far more effective, especially for first time offenders.

Shoplift at Walmart? Stand in the public square wearing a sandwich board with the words "I Stole From Walmart" on both sides.

Instead you are thrown in jail with life long criminals, and learn to game the system.

Reality sucks sometimes. Education works, jailing a generation or two doesn't.

 

[Babagounj]

As to providing some education training to keep criminals out of jail, just where the heck are these jobs going to come from ?
Unemployment is still climbing , droves of people have simply given up even looking for work, and whole sectors are shutting down from the over regulations coming from DC.

 

[rod]

I tend to favor public humiliation--it is much cheaper and far more effective, especially for first time offenders.

Shoplift at Walmart? Stand in the public square wearing a sandwich board with the words "I Stole From Walmart" on both sides.

I wonder what % of Walmartians could even read a sign like that.

 

[dilligaf]

My tax dollars would be better spent allowing this woman to go onto some sort of medically supervised drug maintainence program, coupled with education and job training, rather than incarcerating her.

Odds are she is a felon because she (a) dealt drugs or (b) committed property crimes in order to support a drug habit.

Its not the drugs themselves that cause the criminal behavior...it is the inflated black market cost for those drugs that cause the criminal behavior. Take away the black market...allow that woman to register as an addict with a medical problem and get generic methadone or morphine under a doctors supervision from a pharmacy for $3 a day instead of on the street for $500 or $1000....and she will no longer need to commit crimes or prostitute herself in order to obtain that kind of money. Get her out of the criminal justice system and into a medical system for a fraction of the cost, both financial and societal.

Look at the narco-anarchy, violence, and corruption that plagues Mexico. The reality...is that it is nothing more than free market capitalism at work. Supply and demand. It is our money that corrupts their society, and our demand for illegal drugs that fuels the black market that they supply. Want to beat the drug cartels? Its easy....undercut their price. Put them out of business by offering their best customers (addicts) a cheap, LEGAL product at a fraction of the cost. What we are doing now simply fuels the violence and increases the profits to be made by giving the criminals a monopoly and allowing them to charge whatever they want for their product to customers with a medical condition (addiction) that compels them to do whatever they can to afford that product.

We have been beating our heads into the wall for years on this deal, and its not the wall that is bleeding.

She was in a drug rehab program - repeatedly. Court ordered. Possession of cocaine. She dropped out - repeatedly. And I tend to disagree with you on the "....... not the drugs themselves cause the criminal behavior....". This is like the debate raging on over guns, and you have said yourself.............. "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Those drugs did not just jump up there and say, "hey, take me.". If people didn't first make that choice to use drugs there wouldn't be a black market for them.

 

[roadrunner2012]

As to providing some education training to keep criminals out of jail, just where the heck are these jobs going to come from ?
Unemployment is still climbing , droves of people have simply given up even looking for work, and whole sectors are shutting down from the over regulations coming from DC.

Well, I suppose the jobs would be coming from those who call themselves the 'job creators'. After all, they have amassed an extraordinary amount of wealth over the last couple decades, I'm sure they are going to start creating jobs any day now.

 

[roadrunner2012]

There are an incredible number of people in prison for having small amounts of drugs, or stealing small amounts of merchandise, and yet those who have fleeced the public of billions/trillions of dollars are free.