More Good News
Last week, I noted with some pleasure Missouri Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr.’s call for a less punitive approach to nonviolent offenders in our legal system. In an editorial today, the Post-Dispatch praises Price and offers some concrete recommendations for reform:
• Drug courts need more funding. This is the low-hanging fruit in criminal justice reform — the chance to save serious money by ending the cycle of crime and keeping nonviolent, drug-related offenders out of prison. A lack of funding means state leaders aren’t serious.
• Leaders in rural counties must start to deal with nonviolent offenders in their own communities. If their prosecutors and judges insist on sending everyone to prison, then local taxpayers should be forced to pick up the tab.
• And, Gov. Jay Nixon should convene a panel of top law enforcement, legislative and judicial officials. Their task over the next 120 days should be to develop a plan for closing five of Missouri’s 21 adult correctional institutions over the next five years — one a year for five years — using part of the savings to support alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.
I agree that all of these would be positive developments, but I will note that we could save even more money if the state did not attempt to force people to abstain from certain vices. Oh, well — baby steps, I suppose.
While I don’t disagree with Judge Price’s point of view. A couple factual points because, while its fun to argue opinion, it is pointless to argue facts.
First, there is plenty of federal grant money for drug courts – the problem if finding people appropriate for referral and keeping them from flunking out. In my opinion, drug dealers and drug criminals who also commit violent crimes do not belong in drug court – neither to people who repeatedly violate the conditions of drug court.
Second, the “nonviolent offenders” who are constantly referred to are typically drug dealers and recidivist criminals. In my experience, first-time possessors of drugs are not sent to prison. In the state of Missouri, you go to prison for violent crimes, crimes against children, drug dealing or the commission of multiple nonviolent crimes over a period of year coupled with the failure to abide by probation or parole conditions.
Finally, I agree that my experience is not necessarily the same as rural offenders who are definitely punished more harshly. This has the affect of the St. Louis and KC areas subsidizing yet more rural governmental decisions.
Comment by Tom — February 9, 2010 @ 9:16 a.m.
The problem is if your best opportunity to support yourself is selling drugs, then theres no reason selling drugs will stop being your best opportunity after you are released from drug court.
A non-prison option for non-violent drug offenders, that is contingent on the convicted separating themselves from the drug trade, is up against an extremely powerful incentive structure.
Comment by vroman — February 10, 2010 @ 3:47 p.m.