Monday, February 14, 2005

Bullshit sentencing.

If there was any doubt about whether a criminal conviction would haunt you FOREVER
MA Lt. Gov. files bill to force supervision of released prisoners.:

Tough-on-crime sentencing laws created in the past decade have reduced the number of inmates released on parole. So prisoners finish their sentences, then walk out without anyone keeping track of them. That, the commission found, leads to higher rates of repeat offending.

In 1990, 65 percent of inmates were released on parole; that fell to 34 percent in 2002. The Harshbarger panel called on the Legislature to consider sentencing reforms and mandating post-release supervision.

Healey said her initiative would not cut prison sentences or let people out early.


I disagree with this method of alleviating recidivism. MA already has mandatory minimums and all this tough on crime sentencing crap. If no one is being paroled, then that means that their time has been discharged when they leave. What type of 'supervision' are we talking about here? And what happens if the 'supervisor' doesn't like what the supervisee is doing? What are the consequences? They go back to prison? That sounds like parole to me. So what we're introducing is a longer sentence then? And why is it that the only time we become concerned about these things is when a pedophile priest is killed in jail? Would anyone care if it were a drug dealer or someone serving time for armed robbery?

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