Saturday, December 14, 2013

Money matters man, part deux

News from the North- Boise says we spend too much locking up nonviolent offenses.

Well, if the Spokesman Review can be believed.  The article is short and you can read it here.

Spokane is a pretty conservative town.  But I couldn't find a report in any other publication.  No Idaho newspaper is running this story.  Did it happen?  Did it happen in the way the story describes, with most everyone agreeing things in Idaho aren't right?

This is my money line:

Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, the Senate Judiciary chairwoman, said, “We are not getting soft on crime. I don’t want anyone to leave here saying that we’re going to be soft on crime by trying to improve the way we help people become responsible, accountable, taxpaying citizens.” She noted that close to 90 percent of Idaho’s prison inmates eventually are released into society. “We want to be sure that they’re ready to be in our community.”

That's the Idaho I know.  The idea of locking people up for less time shocks the Idaho conscience.  People who commit crime need to be dead.  We'd kill them all if we could.  Why must punishment cost so much?  Sure, we send our criminals the bill for their time incarcerated, but they never seem to get their lives together and pay back that 70+ grand.  Does this really mean we have to let these monsters who steal golfcarts and take video games from Walmart back into our fair cities?

Honestly, if they can convince the IDOC to start paroling people when their eligible instead of waiting until 75% of their time is up, I will likely die of shock.

No comments:

Post a Comment