Tuesday
Nebraska Man Arrested for 226th Time - New York Times
Ok, the headline isNebraska Man Arrested for 226th Time. The piece goes on to discuss Nebraska's petty criminals and the hundreds of arrests they rack up. But doesn't this just beg the question of what we're doing with these folks. Doesn't it make anyone wonder whether the constant arrests are the right way to spend our resources?
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my controversial book about a day in my life as Public Defender in the South Bronx is finally available for Kindle and Ipad.
5 comments:
You're absolutely right. Why should this guy be left on the streets to steal from people, break into their cars/ houses and generally disrupt other people's lives? Gotta start warehousing guys like this who can't understand the simple rule of living in society: keep your hands off other people's stuff.
A better form of accountability needs to be found than the status quo. This character may need to be incarcerated for a long time, if other methods fail.
I've never practiced in Lincoln but here in Omaha the police's union contract guarantees them 2 hours of overtime pay for each court appearance, which creates a huge incentive to arrest someone (who is politically powerless) for a minor crime such as driving with a suspended license or for disorderly conduct, which is defined broadly and only guarantees a right to a trial by a judge. Thus the officer shows up, gets to leave after 20 minutes as the arrestee pleads guilty in exchange for a recommendation for a small fine, and the cop pockets makes some easy money. Even the prosecutors tried to put a stop to this practice, but the city council's fear of the police union's political power made the effort go nowhere. I don't know if this guy was one of these "usual suspects" or a true repeat offender, but I do know that, like most states, Nebraska has a tough "bitch" (habitual criminal) statute that allows the addition of 20 years if 2 prior felonies are present on a person's record.
As far as the idea to "start warehousing guys like this," the U.S. has an incarceration rate that is 3 to 8 times that of Western Europe and Canada and second only to China per capita. In short, there's a lot of fine print that's still unknown about this guy's true record. With all the exprosecutor judges on the bench who need do nothing more than appear tough on crime to be retained in office in this truly red state, I'm quite sure that if this guy were violent or putting his hands on other people's stuff, he'd have warehoused a long time ago.
P.S. David, you've arrived as a blogger! You've picked up a troll!
Emile Durkhiem (sic) said that 9% of a general popluation will choose a criminal occupation even when another non-criminal occupation is available. Is this what you see in Crim Court in your daily life? Does three strikes you out really work in your opinion?
M
M. Brenner-
Who are you talking to? And if research is your forte, where is evidence of it in your comment? Does "you don't know what you're talking about" pass for researched evidence? I'm hoping you don't use that as a defense in all those cases you're apparently trying all the time. Oh, I get it.... you're a prosecutor! That must be why you end your comment with "boy."
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