The unfortunate thing is you take these young men and women, you lock them up for years under these Draconian sentencing guidelines, and then you let them back into society, he said. Do you absolutely think that theyre going to be better people? Because … if these are first-time offenders, and theyve never been in the system, the only thing youve done for them is institutionalize them. The only thing youve taught them in reality is how to steal, cheat, lie, con, manipulate, gamble and fight. There are more people behind bars today for a drug offense than there were in 1980 for all offenses combined. A first-time drug offense carries a sentence of 5-10 years, though the vast majority of those arrested are not charged with serious offenses. In 2005, for example, 4 out of 5 drug arrests were for possession, not sales. Kerik wanted to emphasize the collateral damage of a conviction. There are probably 50,000 collateral consequences of your felony, he said. To be labeled a felon commonly means, among many things, ineligibility for food stamps and public housing, discrimination from private landlords, losing your vote and denial of a wide range of jobs. Kerik noted that becoming a garbage man or a barber is often not an option because it requires state licensing, off-limits for convicted felons. On top of it, in many states, if an ex-offender on probation cannot get a job in a certain period of time, he or she can be sent back to prison. In 2000, about as many people were returned to prison just for parole violations as were admitted in 1980 for all reasons combined. They accounted for more than 35% of all prison admissions and of them, only one-third was returned for a new conviction. The rest were returned for a technical violation, such as missing a meeting with the parole officer. -- Now he knows...
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 17:00:51 +0000
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