Monday, January 29, 2007
In the jailhouse
The other day, Governor Mike Beebe was talking about the crowded conditions that have become a problem for local jails and the state prison system. He specifically mentioned alternative sentencing and hiring more probation officers as ways to get a handle on this runaway problem. He’s on the right track.
Getting tough may sound good, but it only goes so far and tends to get expensive. Well-seasoned listeners and readers know what is coming next. Prison ought to be for violent felons; those bad people who harm others. As far as I am concerned, the rule should be “one strike and you’re out.” That actually fixes some of our situation.
The larger difficulty is this insane war on drugs. If you think that I believe that mind-altering substances are beneficial, forget it. Furthermore, the nitwits who cook up meth in toilets, and lord knows where else, are a menace to society. Prison for them.
Your garden variety dope smokers and coke snorters may be dumb as Paris Hilton’s parakeet, but they don’t usually do any real harm. If they hurt somebody driving, we already have laws against that. Making some drugs legal knocks the price down and puts the pushers out of business. That’s the answer to crowded prisons.
(Broadcast January 25, 2007)
Getting tough may sound good, but it only goes so far and tends to get expensive. Well-seasoned listeners and readers know what is coming next. Prison ought to be for violent felons; those bad people who harm others. As far as I am concerned, the rule should be “one strike and you’re out.” That actually fixes some of our situation.
The larger difficulty is this insane war on drugs. If you think that I believe that mind-altering substances are beneficial, forget it. Furthermore, the nitwits who cook up meth in toilets, and lord knows where else, are a menace to society. Prison for them.
Your garden variety dope smokers and coke snorters may be dumb as Paris Hilton’s parakeet, but they don’t usually do any real harm. If they hurt somebody driving, we already have laws against that. Making some drugs legal knocks the price down and puts the pushers out of business. That’s the answer to crowded prisons.
(Broadcast January 25, 2007)
