"In October of this year, the United Nations body officially decreed that the United States’ practice of life sentences, life-without-parole in particular, is “cruel, inhuman, and degrading in violation of international human rights standards” and that they violate the basic rights of “life, liberty, and to be free from torture.”"
“Orange Is The New Black” was billed as a drama/comedy, but it had an excellent storyline about how prison (even a minimum security prison) degrades and damages people through racism, sexism, assault, social stigma, etc. Even Piper Chapman, the upper class WASP with all the advantages of money, connections, education, etc. found she could no longer return to her old life once she left prison…and she had a shorter sentence and an easier time than any other character.
America has to decide what prison is for. Rehabilitation? Punishment? Revenge? Deterrent? Keeping dangerous people away from society in general?
Actually, what America REALLY has to do is look at all the different models of incarceration and see which one works, then do that, even if people whine "Soft on crime!" I'm okay with prisoners being treated decently if they're less likely to commit crimes when they come out again.
I've watched a lot of my friends and family get cycled through the Corrections industry, and it changes their psychology every time they're fed through the machine. The last few friends came back as white power skinheads. They used to be normal guys; one of them could even be described as literate. They all carry that overcrowded caged-animal survival mentality with them, exporting their PTSD back into American society and spreading it to their families and communities. Prison culture's like a disease. The guards catch it, the police catch it. Your neighbors might have it.
It isn’t as though they now have received 15 year sentences. These kids (and they are kids) just can earn the chance to get out - and be monitored their whole lives - after 15 years. Do you know how hard it is for lifers to earn parole? https://www.mass.gov/lists/life-sentence-record-of-decisions-rods
I had a friend in junior high who moved away for high school. I lost track of him...
For a few years, anyway. One day in high school (in 1976) someone brought a newspaper from somewhere in Washington state to school. My old friend had been sentenced, at the age of 17, to life in prison without parole for murdering two elderly people as part of an attempt at extorting money from the police.
He made the news again in 2009 after obtaining a razor blade and attempting to cut off his penis. A spokesperson for the prison said he had a long history of mental illness.
I don't know if that illness pre-dated the original crime, if it manifested naturally in his 20s (as I understand it sometimes does), or if knowing at 17 that he was stuck in prison till the end of his days contributed to a breakdown.
In any case, while I think he needed to be removed from society for everyone's protection, it looks very much like the prison system and his sentence was simply used to warehouse a mentally ill man without treatment for many years, and his attempt to Bobbitt himself doesn't seem to have changed that.
I went to high school with a bully who killed a state trooper and got the one-way trip. The night before his execution one of his girlfriends called and implored me to contact the governor to get Glenn a reprieve. She was clearly spun up and calling everyone she knew. I did not make the call.
I only wish certain other states would take Massachusetts' example seriously and not write it off as the work of "progressives." Just looking southward--and southwestward--is all.
That sounds difficult considering this country once proudly declared it's mission statement to be "All men are created equal" and then went on to ratify a constitution that accepted human slavery and a franchise limited to white male real estate owners.
"Both defendants were convicted of first-degree murder, but because Watt was then under 18, he was deemed eligible for parole after 15 years. Watt was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole."
"In October of this year, the United Nations body officially decreed that the United States’ practice of life sentences, life-without-parole in particular, is “cruel, inhuman, and degrading in violation of international human rights standards” and that they violate the basic rights of “life, liberty, and to be free from torture.”"
isn't exceptionalism awesome?
“Orange Is The New Black” was billed as a drama/comedy, but it had an excellent storyline about how prison (even a minimum security prison) degrades and damages people through racism, sexism, assault, social stigma, etc. Even Piper Chapman, the upper class WASP with all the advantages of money, connections, education, etc. found she could no longer return to her old life once she left prison…and she had a shorter sentence and an easier time than any other character.
America has to decide what prison is for. Rehabilitation? Punishment? Revenge? Deterrent? Keeping dangerous people away from society in general?
Actually, what America REALLY has to do is look at all the different models of incarceration and see which one works, then do that, even if people whine "Soft on crime!" I'm okay with prisoners being treated decently if they're less likely to commit crimes when they come out again.
“America has to decide what prison is for.”
A money-making opportunity!
By all means, listen to the UN on this issue; ban excessively cruel punishments.
Except for the Orange Quisling. The more he suffers, the better, as long as it's after due process.
I've watched a lot of my friends and family get cycled through the Corrections industry, and it changes their psychology every time they're fed through the machine. The last few friends came back as white power skinheads. They used to be normal guys; one of them could even be described as literate. They all carry that overcrowded caged-animal survival mentality with them, exporting their PTSD back into American society and spreading it to their families and communities. Prison culture's like a disease. The guards catch it, the police catch it. Your neighbors might have it.
Probably. I'm in Louisiana and locking up as many as possible is a state goal.
http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/484/484mass742.html
Masshole here.
They should probably be kept.
So multiple-massacre 17 year-old school shooters? They get a second chance? Nah.
It isn’t as though they now have received 15 year sentences. These kids (and they are kids) just can earn the chance to get out - and be monitored their whole lives - after 15 years. Do you know how hard it is for lifers to earn parole? https://www.mass.gov/lists/life-sentence-record-of-decisions-rods
Were YOU the same person @ 17 that you were @ 32? Not bloody likely.
I didn’t shoot a bunch of people though.
Neither did the guy who got LWOP. He handed the shooter a gun.
I had a friend in junior high who moved away for high school. I lost track of him...
For a few years, anyway. One day in high school (in 1976) someone brought a newspaper from somewhere in Washington state to school. My old friend had been sentenced, at the age of 17, to life in prison without parole for murdering two elderly people as part of an attempt at extorting money from the police.
He made the news again in 2009 after obtaining a razor blade and attempting to cut off his penis. A spokesperson for the prison said he had a long history of mental illness.
I don't know if that illness pre-dated the original crime, if it manifested naturally in his 20s (as I understand it sometimes does), or if knowing at 17 that he was stuck in prison till the end of his days contributed to a breakdown.
In any case, while I think he needed to be removed from society for everyone's protection, it looks very much like the prison system and his sentence was simply used to warehouse a mentally ill man without treatment for many years, and his attempt to Bobbitt himself doesn't seem to have changed that.
As much as I detest his crime, it seems barbaric.
I went to high school with a bully who killed a state trooper and got the one-way trip. The night before his execution one of his girlfriends called and implored me to contact the governor to get Glenn a reprieve. She was clearly spun up and calling everyone she knew. I did not make the call.
Most of humanity has a hell of a time segregating the criminals from the criminally instane.
I only wish certain other states would take Massachusetts' example seriously and not write it off as the work of "progressives." Just looking southward--and southwestward--is all.
As long as this soft on crime etos doesn't spread to NY, the only way we will end the scourge of Lego on the floor is with stiff prison sentence.
My adopted home state continues to do good stuff! Yay! Honestly, could be better, MA, (we know you have it in you) but it’s a start.
"Truly, we do need to pick a lane here."
That sounds difficult considering this country once proudly declared it's mission statement to be "All men are created equal" and then went on to ratify a constitution that accepted human slavery and a franchise limited to white male real estate owners.
There's no contradiction here, slaves weren't people, they were property.
Land of the free, home of the slave.
We can, however, create Patriotic Killers™ at age 18.
Kyle Rittenhouse enters the chat :/
He watched too much news about child soldiers in Somalia and Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and asked 'Why not me?".
"if not me, who?
if not now, when?"
I learned this week that prisoners are not prisoners. They are hostages.
Only the MAGA ones. The criminal justice system is notoriously liberal, after all.
"Both defendants were convicted of first-degree murder, but because Watt was then under 18, he was deemed eligible for parole after 15 years. Watt was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole."
What?
Second sentence was supposed to name Wyatt, not repeat Watt. It's wrong in the source citation.
OT.
"IRS has already collected more than $500 million in back taxes from delinquent millionaires"
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/irs-has-already-collected-more-than-500-million-in-back-taxes-from-delinquent-millionaires-b70fe240
Must be from all those brand new Biden guns they're carrying.
Those woke out of control bureaucrats!
They'll ruin everything.
We need the rich to make more so they can create more jerbs for us paying peanuts!
It's the American way.
Drive on, mofos!!
Keep up the good work!
It's a start.