Isn’t the county mentioned a cesspool of progressivism? Why not, since more government is always seen as the perfect panacea, create another layer of over site; and while at it, increase county taxes by at least 25%?
A shameful lack of due process for folks merely accused. Most especially done by "judges". Constitutional cowards it would seem. Small men (and women) with oversized authority.
That said, if Matt's figures on prisoner infection and death are accurate, the rate of death/infection in jails is 0.67% whereas the rate of death/infection in the population at large in the US is 3 times higher at 1.8% Either the data is wrong (or my math is) or folks seem safer, as to Covid, in jail than on the streets.
Blaming human/civil rights violations on 'systemic failures' grants nebulous cover to the actors involved. 'The man', 'the system', 'the government' all consist of individuals who are committing illegal/unethical acts. But in this day and age, if you're active in decision-making/execution of systemic failures its not your fault, you are a victim as much as those the system is failing--in other words, no one who is perpetuating the system is punished.
Take this to the next level, with the incoming administration, it will only get worse. "We tortured some folks" but "let's look forward" and not backwards will continue. The people will grow more angry, and when the next strongman comes around, one who isn't a bombastic buffoon but one who does not shy in getting medieval, even biblical, cutting the baby in half without remorse in the name of justice, they will eagerly vote him into power to curb the bureaucracy's blasé malfeasance.
Addressing non-violent drug offenses and double standards for which blacks saw jail cells far more than whites is fair, as is directing these kids toward programs, not jail. In my town, our garbage cannot be left out overnight, or we're fined. Nobody leaves it out. There's a speed trap on the parkway allowing a certain borough to bolster its budget. On ticket day, the place is standing room only--the apprehended, incidentally, are overwhelmingly white. If we are to have two standards of law enforcement, of justice, one for law abiding citizens, the other not, if we decriminalize property and even some assault crimes, then America is over. Let's raise related standards, not destroy them. That's a thesis in itself, one that requires a two-way discussion, not the unilateral orthodox lecture that swamps our press and airwaves. Forget the law abiding shop owner in a dicey area whose place is habitually robbed.
Should he or she, if alive, grin and bear it? What kind of or degree of justice is meted out to single mothers or working parents trying to raise kids in crime-ridden neighborhoods, or babies and adults shot dead watching TV in their own homes, or in their own cars? Where is the movement to protect any of them? Instead, they get the begrudging sentence fragment, the token, "of course they matter but.."
When the law1 abiders finally do matter, things will change. Forget the people who build businesses, or own cars and homes or the old person coldcocked in the street. What's a burglary or two? A third degree assault? Yelling religious slurs at a succession of victims, or spitting, shouting, putting on a psychotic break performance, in a policeman's face? Piffle.All should bear it stoically, in the name if justice, and get these people right back on the street, so they can go out and do it again. Examples of injustice are important; it is unthinkable that anyone would spend a year in jail without due process. That is un-American. But such instances are highlighted not to say manipulated in campaigns for one size fits all leniency and de facto decriminalization of crime. There's little or no mention of what the accused allegedly did, to whom or what. In addition to the insanity of Herbold's Seattle proposal, New York's bail reform https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/recent-tragedy-sparks-criticism-of-new-yorks-bail-reform-plans.
decriminalized crime. Victim groups, the people daily affected by criminal behavior, and those seeking less incarceration for offenders should arrive at a joint solution, case by case bases, that keeps. Our civil and safe society at the forefront of our daily lives. Especially in our cities, where these non-negotiable bulwarks are degraded daily.
On the other hand, bail reform is meant to address the inequities in the bail system. Those who can afford it, get out. Those that can't, don't. Pre-trial risk assessment based primarily on algorithm tools is the law of the near future as more jurisdictions switch to this method. In states or counties without pre-trial risk assessment, many poor defendants who cannot afford bail remain incarcerated unless they come up with the money. With risk assessment, at least some will be released without bail or with conditions in lieu of money. Yes, the tools are new and imperfect and the algorithms and the bureaucracy may need serious tweaking. But we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Other than judges passing the buck, which doesn’t surprise me, I don’t see this as much of an issue.
Prisoners are at risk of Covid...so is everyone else. Google ‘released covid prisoners committing crimes’ and you will get 14,000,000 results. Young prisoners are unlikely to die from the disease as your numbers indicate: 99.7% recovered. And where exactly are old prisoners going to go? There are no ‘covid free zones’ nor are there relatives waiting to put Uncle Ned, the criminal, up for the duration.
If you are in need of interesting ideas try: Civil Forfeiture and Police Department funding.
Fair treatment for low-lifes, irresponsible kids and foreign nationals seems to be the main constituency of progressive politics. Not that the points Matt makes aren't valid, but you won't will elections with this kind of focus.
"Its lawyers say nobody has been detained in violation of a court order.” You'd think that *detaining* would need to be affirmatively authorization. The universe of court orders not issued, and therefore not susceptible to being violated, is infinite.
Also, did 249k inmates 'contract the disease' or test positive without having contracted anything that resembles a disease?
I think Jails since they are so expensive should be responsible for the health and well being of their prisoners. I mean criminally liable. Meaning if you are hit in the face by a prisoner then you were assaulted by the jail. The jail should face criminal liability. Your sentence is your confinement and removal from society not being raped and beaten.
Also, I believe that before you are convicted of a crime the jail should be like a hotel room, a TV, a comfortable bed and a telephone you are free to use at no cost. After all before you are convicted you are in fact an innocent man being detained simply for the benefit and convenience fo the law.
«If you’re not from Prince George’s County but get arrested there [...] buy the equivalent of a political options contract as an alternative to judgment.»
This seems to imply that those judges are elected, and it is their constituents that are are quite happy with very long detention times both pre-trial and afterwards.
If that is the case the system is working exactly is intended: electing judges is supposed to ensure that they conform to the values of their community, and if their constituents are nasty hypocrites, then is it a surprise that the justice system conforms to that?
Kafka meets Catch 22. But as far as the Covid commentary goes, by the numbers presented here the generally not so healthy prison population has about 1/3 better death rate per 100,000 than US population as a whole.
Isn’t the county mentioned a cesspool of progressivism? Why not, since more government is always seen as the perfect panacea, create another layer of over site; and while at it, increase county taxes by at least 25%?
That will fix it!
A shameful lack of due process for folks merely accused. Most especially done by "judges". Constitutional cowards it would seem. Small men (and women) with oversized authority.
That said, if Matt's figures on prisoner infection and death are accurate, the rate of death/infection in jails is 0.67% whereas the rate of death/infection in the population at large in the US is 3 times higher at 1.8% Either the data is wrong (or my math is) or folks seem safer, as to Covid, in jail than on the streets.
Blaming human/civil rights violations on 'systemic failures' grants nebulous cover to the actors involved. 'The man', 'the system', 'the government' all consist of individuals who are committing illegal/unethical acts. But in this day and age, if you're active in decision-making/execution of systemic failures its not your fault, you are a victim as much as those the system is failing--in other words, no one who is perpetuating the system is punished.
Take this to the next level, with the incoming administration, it will only get worse. "We tortured some folks" but "let's look forward" and not backwards will continue. The people will grow more angry, and when the next strongman comes around, one who isn't a bombastic buffoon but one who does not shy in getting medieval, even biblical, cutting the baby in half without remorse in the name of justice, they will eagerly vote him into power to curb the bureaucracy's blasé malfeasance.
Add the crime of not wearing a mask.
As the Seattle Times editorial points out, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/reject-seattles-absurd-misdemeanor-proposal/%3famp=1, civil society must preserve public safety and justice for everyone. In practice, at warp speed, decriminalizing poverty became decriminalizing crime, too expansive and facile in its interpretations -- see, again, Seattle or San Francisco. Or other places.
Addressing non-violent drug offenses and double standards for which blacks saw jail cells far more than whites is fair, as is directing these kids toward programs, not jail. In my town, our garbage cannot be left out overnight, or we're fined. Nobody leaves it out. There's a speed trap on the parkway allowing a certain borough to bolster its budget. On ticket day, the place is standing room only--the apprehended, incidentally, are overwhelmingly white. If we are to have two standards of law enforcement, of justice, one for law abiding citizens, the other not, if we decriminalize property and even some assault crimes, then America is over. Let's raise related standards, not destroy them. That's a thesis in itself, one that requires a two-way discussion, not the unilateral orthodox lecture that swamps our press and airwaves. Forget the law abiding shop owner in a dicey area whose place is habitually robbed.
Should he or she, if alive, grin and bear it? What kind of or degree of justice is meted out to single mothers or working parents trying to raise kids in crime-ridden neighborhoods, or babies and adults shot dead watching TV in their own homes, or in their own cars? Where is the movement to protect any of them? Instead, they get the begrudging sentence fragment, the token, "of course they matter but.."
When the law1 abiders finally do matter, things will change. Forget the people who build businesses, or own cars and homes or the old person coldcocked in the street. What's a burglary or two? A third degree assault? Yelling religious slurs at a succession of victims, or spitting, shouting, putting on a psychotic break performance, in a policeman's face? Piffle.All should bear it stoically, in the name if justice, and get these people right back on the street, so they can go out and do it again. Examples of injustice are important; it is unthinkable that anyone would spend a year in jail without due process. That is un-American. But such instances are highlighted not to say manipulated in campaigns for one size fits all leniency and de facto decriminalization of crime. There's little or no mention of what the accused allegedly did, to whom or what. In addition to the insanity of Herbold's Seattle proposal, New York's bail reform https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/recent-tragedy-sparks-criticism-of-new-yorks-bail-reform-plans.
decriminalized crime. Victim groups, the people daily affected by criminal behavior, and those seeking less incarceration for offenders should arrive at a joint solution, case by case bases, that keeps. Our civil and safe society at the forefront of our daily lives. Especially in our cities, where these non-negotiable bulwarks are degraded daily.
On the other hand, bail reform is meant to address the inequities in the bail system. Those who can afford it, get out. Those that can't, don't. Pre-trial risk assessment based primarily on algorithm tools is the law of the near future as more jurisdictions switch to this method. In states or counties without pre-trial risk assessment, many poor defendants who cannot afford bail remain incarcerated unless they come up with the money. With risk assessment, at least some will be released without bail or with conditions in lieu of money. Yes, the tools are new and imperfect and the algorithms and the bureaucracy may need serious tweaking. But we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Other than judges passing the buck, which doesn’t surprise me, I don’t see this as much of an issue.
Prisoners are at risk of Covid...so is everyone else. Google ‘released covid prisoners committing crimes’ and you will get 14,000,000 results. Young prisoners are unlikely to die from the disease as your numbers indicate: 99.7% recovered. And where exactly are old prisoners going to go? There are no ‘covid free zones’ nor are there relatives waiting to put Uncle Ned, the criminal, up for the duration.
If you are in need of interesting ideas try: Civil Forfeiture and Police Department funding.
Nit: extra space before "We have people..."
Great stuff. Please keep talking to PDs.
Fair treatment for low-lifes, irresponsible kids and foreign nationals seems to be the main constituency of progressive politics. Not that the points Matt makes aren't valid, but you won't will elections with this kind of focus.
Good script for a musical comedy.
"Its lawyers say nobody has been detained in violation of a court order.” You'd think that *detaining* would need to be affirmatively authorization. The universe of court orders not issued, and therefore not susceptible to being violated, is infinite.
Also, did 249k inmates 'contract the disease' or test positive without having contracted anything that resembles a disease?
I think Jails since they are so expensive should be responsible for the health and well being of their prisoners. I mean criminally liable. Meaning if you are hit in the face by a prisoner then you were assaulted by the jail. The jail should face criminal liability. Your sentence is your confinement and removal from society not being raped and beaten.
Also, I believe that before you are convicted of a crime the jail should be like a hotel room, a TV, a comfortable bed and a telephone you are free to use at no cost. After all before you are convicted you are in fact an innocent man being detained simply for the benefit and convenience fo the law.
Great news update. I live in the area and didn't know this.
«If you’re not from Prince George’s County but get arrested there [...] buy the equivalent of a political options contract as an alternative to judgment.»
This seems to imply that those judges are elected, and it is their constituents that are are quite happy with very long detention times both pre-trial and afterwards.
If that is the case the system is working exactly is intended: electing judges is supposed to ensure that they conform to the values of their community, and if their constituents are nasty hypocrites, then is it a surprise that the justice system conforms to that?
Kafka meets Catch 22. But as far as the Covid commentary goes, by the numbers presented here the generally not so healthy prison population has about 1/3 better death rate per 100,000 than US population as a whole.
thank you