This was an article in The Deseret News.
The article summarized the new opposition to arbitrary sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders by both sides of the ideological spectrum. It talked about how the costs of our prison system have increased dramatically over the past few years and how new, shorter sentencing times could alleviate some of those costs, as well as eliminate a policy that they feel remove judges' discretion with sentences as well as generalizes the non violent drug offense population too much. It also referenced President Obama's pressing of the issue by commuting the sentences of eight drug offenders.
Part of me feels like this whole thing is more about cutting spending than really addressing a sentencing problem, but bipartisan support suggests that perhaps there is some merit to the new initiatives. A lot of noise has been made as well about the overcrowding of prisons as well as prison spending, so perhaps shortening the prison sentence for relatively insignificant crime is a prudent action for the time being.
The other part of me feels a kind of paranoid insecurity at the prospect of shorter sentencing times. Drug crimes aren't ones to be taken lightly (although not analogous to violent crimes like rape and murder). If spending needs to be cut then I can think of several programs that seem much lower on the totem pole than law enforcement and incarceration. Shaving a little off of our massive military budget might not hurt us, at least, not as much as the potential negative repercussions from reducing incarceration times.
Comments are appreciated.
I think that shortening the sentence times is not a smart idea. Like you said, I do not think that these cases are comparable to other horrendous crimes, but even in the prison system, there are many things that can be changed. Do we really need to supply television to our convicts, to the people that have broken the law and committed crimes? Services like that make me cringe, because we should not be providing things like that freely to the people who have broken the law.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fair observation. I hadn't even thought of that.
ReplyDeleteAt least prisons in Utah are now cigarette free...
ReplyDeleteI think more than being worried about criminals going free is my worry about the message it sends. You are less likely to commit a crime when there is a severe punishment to it. Lightening the sentence may increase the crime rate. There are other ways to save money. As Tanner said, they have some conveniences that they probably shouldn't. Cut these cost. Cut some costs in other places, as well. Look for ways to make things cheaper without making things less safe.
When looking at sentences regarding drugs, we got to look at what drugs are the highest abused here in Utah. What state has ranks #1 in the U.S. on the prescription drug abuse scale? Utah. Which county in America has the #1 ratings for most abused prescription drugs? Utah. The majority of our drug abuse pertains to prescription drugs, therefore, we shouldn't be to worried about the new, short-term sentences. Of course, there will be drug abusers of hallucinogenics, cocaine, and meth, but they aren't the number one abusers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority of what has been said. Although we are assuming the worst about lots of people. Some people just get caught up, and its the only time they do something bad... although this is not the norm. I think that there has got to be a way to speed to court system up, but i most definitely do not the idea of shorter sentences.
ReplyDelete