Crime and Punishment - The Redux...
Ever turn on the TV, pick up the paper, of check out news online and see where a person receives a sentence for whatever it is they've done, and you start shouting out loud about the INJUSTICE being perpetrated?
I know I have, and with increasing frequency over the years.
Used to be a time when the judicial equation went something like this: CRIME = PUNISHMENT...period!
Today?
Not so much.
Case in point: The recent Bernard Madoff scandal.
Now I'll try my BEST to stay out of the realm of politics, and adhere more to the "law and order" aspect of all this, so bear with me.
Politics, for the most part these days, is nothing short of it's OWN form of crime against the people, but that's another post for another day.
Now Madoff "made off" with a $hitload ($65 BILLION) of 48 of his investors' money...not a good thing.
Also, his "cadre" is being hauled in, one by one.
Bernie is looking at some SERIOUS jail time, and that bothers me.
Do I think he should be allowed to just walk away? Hell, no.
He damn near ruined a lot of peoples' lives by doing (what I called yesterday) a FLIM-FLAM on these folks. The quintessential con-man if EVER there was one.
But think about this...did he pull a knife and stab anyone repeately? Did he execute anyone gangland style? Did he rape and then strangle a number of females? Has he exposed himself in front of, or fondled small children? Has he killed people and eaten their bodies, or bury them in his basement?
If you answered NO to any (or all) of the above, give yourself a pat on the back.
But...he DID take a lot of MONEY.
Which brings me to the crux of the matter: making the punishment fit the crime.
Madoff's accountant posted the $2.5 million bail (he had to sell his home...which one I wonder?)
This accountant is accused of fraud, and has basically been doing the "rubber stamp-two-step" for Madoff over the last 17 years, as Bernie's "auditor".
Nice, huh?
But let's review here...
Bail is $2.5 MIL, and he faces a sentence of 105 YEARS (obviously NOT in some "supermax" facility).
Okayyyyyyy, so WHY do people that commit a lot more HEINOUS and VIOLENT crimes (like murder), wind up with bail in the THOUSANDS, and (eventually) get sentenced to terms of about 25 YEARS?
I've seen repeat offenders for DRUGS get "just another slap on the wrist" when it comes to sentencing (Mc Chesney in Harlan, IN being a well-deserved exception), and they make bail all too easy. Same for people that "plea deal" their way into lesser sentences. That makes ME feel a lot safer at night, knowing a felon is back on MY street sooner than needed...how about you?
Noise violators NEVER seem to get punished. All they seemingly get are repeated warnings. I've seen it happen time and again.
Sure, it seems like small potatoes, but if you let the small $hit happen, it WILL lead to larger $hit.
Start confiscating these loud vehicles, fine the violators out the ass for a while, and see if things don't get better. They will.
We DO have specified laws in place to take care of certain repeat offenders (the 3 strike laws, for example), and they might have to register on some state or national offender list (for others), but we ARE talking about people who do, in fact HARM other people WITH INTENT and MALICE, most noticeably in a PHYSICAL sense (murder or rape tends to be a tad on the physical side).
Yet, here we go with our judicial system that wants to toss away the key for some guys who took MONEY, and yet, we turn murders and rapists back ONTO our streets after a little more than a decade or so...how the hell is THAT "fair", especially to the VICTIMS?
And people wonder why I tend to refrain from sitting on any jury.
The answer is simple.
If you're NOT guilty, you wouldn't be sitting there being accused of beating someone to death, with a "prior" rap sheet as long as my arm, standing over the vic with bloody hands and a baseball bat now, would you?
We have strayed from the "innocent until proven guilty" to more of an "innocent until PROVEN innocent" motif, and that just pisses me off to no small degree.
When it comes to guilt, there are only TWO ways to go:
You are, or you are not...there is no "in-between" or "kind of" aspect to it.
And when you are CAUGHT doing something that is wrong, against the law, illegal, or adverse to the rules of the land, don't try and bullshit me into thinking otherwise, OK?
When you were little, and Mom CAUGHT you with your hand in the cookie jar, crumbs all over, and with remnants of chocolate chips on your lips and in your mouth, you DID NOT try and bullshit her into believing those cookies JUMPED into your mouth from the jar against your will, and you were trying to corral them back INTO said jar, correct?
Somehow, Mom didn't buy into that, and you were punished accordingly. Once for TAKING the cookies, and twice for LYING to her.
Same thing happens EVERY SINGLE DAY on the streets, in the homes, and across the board rooms of this nation.
And, for some strange reason, we dole out punishment based not so much on GUILT, but on class status.
Sorry, but that's wrong on too many levels, and sends a bad message to the people.
Bernie gets to spend his life in a facility that will not have people dropping the soap in the shower to please the cellmate, nor will he be making small rocks out of larger ones. Ditto for his accountant or any other minion that takes the fall along with these shrubs.
But just YOU forget to pay your taxes, and see what happens...
There is no hole DEEP enough for you to hide in.
The "regular" people take the HARD fall. Those with "privilege" get the soft one. "You GOT money?" You can buy your way out of that HARD time.
"You DON'T got money?" Kiss your life goodbye, and get ready to get shanked over a cigarette.
Now, we could take this to the next step, and talk about the "detainees" in GITMO, or the illegals that comprise about 11% of our prison population, but I think you're getting the drift of all this.
Cripes, we can't even call the terrorists in Gitmo what they really ARE anymore. They are being called every other name BUT what they are: TERRORISTS. Well, I'm gonna call 'em that...They are ENEMY COMBATANTS, and should be brought before a WAR TRIBUNAL for their crimes, and NOT brought to the USA, where the ACLU can insure their "rights" and get them off the hook. And, as much as I detest the ACLU, it is for AMERICAN citizens anyway, right? Isn't that what the *A* in the acronym stands for?
Ditto for the ILLEGAL ALIENS crossing our borders. They're here ILLEGALLY, and the ACLU should butt the f$ck out. And if they commit a CRIME when they're here ILLEGALLY, then they've COMPOUNDED the issue, and should be brought to JUSTICE (the swifter, the better).
Let's also make it UNATTRACTIVE to commit crimes, too. Make the punishments HARSHER...the way they USED to be.
What the hell is wrong with a good "necktie" party at the state pen anyway? Or the electric chair and gas chamber?
Cripes, we got all that VX nerve gas sitting around...put it to some GOOD use, and kill off these "lifers".
Every criminal that sits in every jail cell for every year costs the taxpayer about $32K (and change). Now that's a nice yearly income, don'cha think? There are a lot of low-income people that would KILL for that kind of scratch, and if they DID kill someone, they could probably get a PIECE of it.
Our jails are overcrowded, that's a fact, but since we don't seem to want to make punishment fit the crime, and off some of these irredeemable felons, then lets make room for some that CAN be rehabilitated or at least penitent.
White collar crime...blue collar crime....doesn't matter. It's ALL crime, and has to be dealt with.
Judge Roy Bean would agree..if HE were here.
Oh, wait, he'd probably be JAILED for his methods of justice being too "harsh". That's what the ACLU would say.
I say: If justice is BLIND, then that should mean that EVERYONE is treated EQUALLY, instead of having the judicial system not being able to SEE the truth and act accordingly in the BEST interest of our nations' people.
What we SHOULD be doing is punishing the law-breaking AND...(you'll find this a novel concept) REWARDING the LAW-ABIDING.
Maybe Lady Justice could take a "peek" from under her blindfold, and check out what's been going on in her "absence".
What she sees might shock some sense back into the system.
In the meantime...
Stay safe out there, America.