Friday, December 16, 2011
It gets better
Got an email from the Justice Policy Institute expressing aggravation that while prison populations are down nationwide, Maryland's prison population is up. Of course one's first gut reaction is, I don't want to pay $40-60 a day to feed, house and clothe 1.8% more assorted fuckweasels and fudgeclowns. But-- could it be-- dare we imagine-- that the growth in state prison population is a sign that homicides and shootings are down because police are arresting the right people, prosecutors are bringing better cases, rapes are being investigated and prosecuted and the jury pool is sucking slightly less? Note that per Gary Maynard, 40% of MD's prison population is from Baltimore City, 25% is from PGC, 15% from Baltimore County, and the state's other 21 counties make up the rest.
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3 comments:
I'm not buying. There are a lot of factors that have led to the decrease in homicides. Maryland is hell bent on locking up nonviolent offenders.
Cham, Baltimore has just tons of criminally-inclined residents. Far too dense for any municipality.
Slapping them on the wrist with PBJ, STET, or community service just doesn't work. Fines generally don't apply because they claim poverty. And nonviolent is more a statement of what they've been caught at than what they're inclined to do when at liberty.
Yes, I would rather not have to pay their room and board, but I'm only willing to forego that cost if they are to be released with a requirement that they be confined to your neighborhood, not mine.
Deal?
Balancing the budget by compromising basic safety is not a valid exercise of government discretion. If that's the only way to balance the books, then such a government should be in receivership, because that virtually comprises conspiracy to commit crimes.
Maryland might be, but it's hard to believe Baltimore is, since every week there's another "murderer who shouldn't have been out of jail but was anyway sentenced to 15 years" story.
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