Comments on: Criminals should not benefit from state’s budget crisis http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2009/10/criminals-should-not-benefit-from-state%e2%80%99s-budget-crisis/ Get the real story Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:44:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: qofdisks http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2009/10/criminals-should-not-benefit-from-state%e2%80%99s-budget-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-8927 qofdisks Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:04:58 +0000 http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/?p=8202#comment-8927 Mexico just did it. Decriminalize most drugs. We can no longer afford the drug war. There are responsible ways to do it by studying the harm reduction techniques that are working in European countries such as Portugal. Drug addition is a health care/ mental health issue, not a justice/criminal issue. Focus our limited resources on real crimes that hurt people and property. This nation has the highest incarceration rate than any other nation and we can't afford it anymore. It is time to rethink our punitive social philosophies. It is difficult to hear these troubles in our overwhelmed judicial system. They are trying to do an impossible job with dwindling resources. It is up to the politicians to understand that they are the ones that are going to have to make prosecutorial priorities. It is time to think out of the box to lighten the terrible burden on our system without endangering the public. The depression is deepening even as Wall Street parties. Washington has chosen to float the fat cats and we are on our own. We need to love one another and take care of each other more than ever. It is time to have compassion with regard to human failings concerning addictions. It will be less costly in the end. Mexico just did it. Decriminalize most drugs. We can no longer afford the drug war. There are responsible ways to do it by studying the harm reduction techniques that are working in European countries such as Portugal. Drug addition is a health care/ mental health issue, not a justice/criminal issue.
Focus our limited resources on real crimes that hurt people and property. This nation has the highest incarceration rate than any other nation and we can’t afford it anymore. It is time to rethink our punitive social philosophies.
It is difficult to hear these troubles in our overwhelmed judicial system. They are trying to do an impossible job with dwindling resources. It is up to the politicians to understand that they are the ones that are going to have to make prosecutorial priorities. It is time to think out of the box to lighten the terrible burden on our system without endangering the public.
The depression is deepening even as Wall Street parties. Washington has chosen to float the fat cats and we are on our own. We need to love one another and take care of each other more than ever. It is time to have compassion with regard to human failings concerning addictions. It will be less costly in the end.

]]> By: jivaro99 http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2009/10/criminals-should-not-benefit-from-state%e2%80%99s-budget-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-8911 jivaro99 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:45:37 +0000 http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/?p=8202#comment-8911 Releasing criminals to the streets early to alleviate the tax burden to the state is ludicrous. If a person has served their time and shown through good faith that they are sorry for what they did, then they should be given a chance. Upon a second offence they should be given a sentence commensurate with their crime and held for a longer period, living out most of their life incarcerated or put to death as the law would dictate for the crime. If that person has shown he/she has been rehabilitated, then after a set number of years their full rights as American citizens should be restored and allowed to live their lives as productive members of society and as citizens of the country in which they were born. If they are of foreign origin, they should be deported back to their respective country and never allowed to enter the U S again. Too many people place far too much of a burden on a first time conviction of a person after they have paid their debt to society and this includes the companies that will not give a second chance to them. This is one reason our prisons have too many repeat offenders. When they are released they are put under such stringent burdens, that to eat or support their families, they turn to crime again. This is a wrong way to think, but put yourself in their shoes and look at it through their eyes then ask yourself what you would do under the same conditions. When a person is placed in a position without hope for a decent future, what do they have to look forward to. Remember that but for the Grace of God and circumstance it could be you standing in their shoes. Releasing criminals to the streets early to alleviate the tax burden to the state is ludicrous. If a person has served their time and shown through good faith that they are sorry for what they did, then they should be given a chance. Upon a second offence they should be given a sentence commensurate with their crime and held for a longer period, living out most of their life incarcerated or put to death as the law would dictate for the crime.

If that person has shown he/she has been rehabilitated, then after a set number of years their full rights as American citizens should be restored and allowed to live their lives as productive members of society and as citizens of the country in which they were born. If they are of foreign origin, they should be deported back to their respective country and never allowed to enter the U S again.

Too many people place far too much of a burden on a first time conviction of a person after they have paid their debt to society and this includes the companies that will not give a second chance to them. This is one reason our prisons have too many repeat offenders. When they are released they are put under such stringent burdens, that to eat or support their families, they turn to crime again. This is a wrong way to think, but put yourself in their shoes and look at it through their eyes then ask yourself what you would do under the same conditions.

When a person is placed in a position without hope for a decent future, what do they have to look forward to. Remember that but for the Grace of God and circumstance it could be you standing in their shoes.

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