Probation changes sought to relieve jails
read more recent story comments Reader comments| A Hoosier Sunday, January 30, 2011: 10:14 am More from A Hoosier  | This all sounds wonderful. As expected, my concern is that the government has found a new way to pilfer money from the offender. Probation is not free to the offender. Can we move the money from incarceration to the probation department without adding additional expense to the offender? It would be wonderful to start healing but I must be suspicious. |
| Arse Sunday, January 30, 2011: 12:56 pm More from Arse | A Hoosier, I'm curious as to when, if ever, you see the "offender" as having any personal responsibility in/to/for the "offense" remedy process? Would you propose we simply formally charge them, try them and, if convicted, demand (no, "demand" is too harsh an expectation, I'm sure), ask them to be remoseful for their action? Or are you hard-core and demand they all be counselled? Following your apparent train of thought, how about we simply decriminalize everything? No laws equals no law-breakers. That way, we could live in a wonderful crime-free world. We could have "recommended behavior" for people. And if someone violates recommendation, we could, collectively, draw down our eyebrows and signal our disapproval. The cost savings to our society would be astronomical. No need for any arm of the criminal justice system, period. We'd convert all law enforcement officers to "service officers" (for vehicle crashes, people locked out of their cars, etc)and could completely discontinue criminal courts, corrections, probation and parole. Of course, we'd need to keep the civil judicial system until our new found Civilized Citizen Civility really took root, but that shouldn't take long. I don't know why your ideas haven't caught on more quickly. Louis Armstrong said it best, "I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, what a wonderful world The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?" They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever know And I think to myself, what a wonderful world Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world Oh yeah." I'm not fond of the scenic view Life has dealt you, I can't imagine having to endlessly blink the sand from my eyes. I must admit, I'm not sure if you live in Utopia or have achieved nirvana, but, whatever your state of mind, it must be nice to get a break from reality. |
| A Hoosier Sunday, January 30, 2011: 1:54 pm More from A Hoosier | Arse, great song. I am completely suspicious of our government. It seems to me that they have managed, at every opportunity, to convince the public that their actions are for the good of the people. When it seems that it is the government who benefits or those already in possession of large amounts of taxpayer dollar. My blind eye has allowed this to happen. In relation to our social problems. We must admit that we have been blessed to possess/obtain an education, parents who were responsible in our care, and we have never been truely indigent. I can admit I have been blessed to not know hunger, extreme violence, or lack of shelter. I have escaped a household of addiction, domestic violence and horror. However, I did have to endure a house with sexual abuse. I know, from my own experience, the fight that I had to wage to deal with the psychological damage. I had to decide that self destruction was not in my best interest. It took alot of conversations with alot of professionals. My experience was but one issue, if you multiple these issues on a child what will you get? To help society, we must get to the real issues not the symptom. Addiction and violence are symptoms. Some may be truely chemically imbalanced, treatable with medications. Some may be too far gone to help, but better to try and fail then to have not tried at all. |
| A Hoosier Sunday, January 30, 2011: 2:02 pm More from A Hoosier | Arse, and to say the idea has not caught on is inaccurate. What is this article about? |
| Rod Sunday, January 30, 2011: 3:13 pm More from Rod | Arse,yes the offender should be responsible for his or her own rehab.That said they have to be able to afford it.Many getting out of jail have a hard time finding a job. |
| Ed Sunday, January 30, 2011: 3:40 pm More from Ed | Never argue with an idiot - they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. |
| bob searcy Sunday, January 30, 2011: 5:16 pm More from bob searcy | no easy answers. someone stealing from citizens while they are working probably should be jailed for the publics peace of mind. ditto violent offenders. substance abuse seems to be the area needing rethought. i know a local right now who has lost work and made many trips to indy courts over being caught with a pot pipe. the trips have only begun what with the upcoming probation circus he faces. this has long ago gotten stale with me..kids are gonna smoke weed , take downers or take uppers. maybe we should leave the weed alone and and create safer alternatives for the other two. yea, im still a few years ahead of current concensus. many in europe claim ecstacy to be statistically safer than horse back riding..like i said, no easy solutions. man has been using since moses came down the mount ripped outta his gourd.. |
| Sunny Sunday, January 30, 2011: 5:47 pm More from Sunny | Arse, Just give it up pal... ... |
| Ratcatcher Sunday, January 30, 2011: 9:54 pm More from Ratcatcher |
Better the offender pay for the probation than a law abiding, hard working, tax paying citizen such as myself. Maybe after paying $60 per month probation fees for a year the offender might decide that he would rather have that money to spend on other things like cigarettes, beer and pot or maybe a ticket to a concert or movie. Then he will think twice the next time he decides to beat someone or break into a house, etc. |
| Danny Stewart Monday, January 31, 2011: 10:51 am More from Danny Stewart | Hoosier, I believe it was you(if not I apologize)that said there was not a black market for tobacco and alcohol? Actually, there is...if you know where to look. It's actually very easy to get the stuff very cheaply on the black market. Legalizing all of these drugs you're talking about would not decrease the crime rate or decrease the drug use. It would actually increase it.Making the stuff legal would naturally raise the prices of this stuff and that would actually increase the amount of the stuff on the black market thus making it cheaper for the user to get more of the addictive stuff. It would also likely be purer than what is available now thus increasing the addictive nature of the stuff and doing more damage to that person and society than it does now. Look, I understand your wanting to keep the government out of our business.... and for the most part, I agree. But, we have to draw a line somewhere. People are naturally self destructive. That is why we have taught ourselves over the centuries to protect ourselves and our way of life from most of the things like this that we do know can and do destroy. And yes, we all know that alcohol is destuctive if abused. Unfortunately, we have also learned that it is in our nature to want to escape our daily rituals. Alcohol is not easy to produce, too much time for most people. Therefore, it is easy to regulate and tax. Pot is easy to produce, just pick it off a plant and go if you want. It's uncontrolable for the most part. But we have to start somewhere. I don't know about the rest of the stuff. And while it is also human nature to rebel against authority, an adult should easily be able to know the difference between your basic common sense and just plain old stupidity. As adults, we understand things better than a kid does or even a doped up adult does. Personally, what you do in your own place is your business, the problem I have is this. Most people are not smart enough to stay put when they are doing things. We have plenty of evidence in that with so many dui's. I wouldn't care if a person drank themselves silly as long as they stayed put in their own place. It would be no different with the stuff you want to see legalized. The people wouldn't be smart enough to stay put and not put anyone else in danger from their stupidity. It's human nature. Therefore, because of simple human nature, we cannot allow the stuff you want legalized to become legal. It is far to great a risk to our society. We already have enough risk from the stupidity of drunk drivers and alcoholics. And while pot smokers are generally lumped over in a vegative state, they are a burden simply because they are either sleeping or eating cheetos. Besides, you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped. |
| A Hoosier Monday, January 31, 2011: 11:46 am More from A Hoosier | Danny, my interest in legalization/decriminalize drugs has everything to do with the community as whole and absolutely nothing to do with the government staying out of my business. If I wanted the government out of my business I would blogging about the Patriot Act, homeland security, and illegal search and seizure. Your analyse of increased crime is, I believe, ludicrous. I will ask you, as I have asked others, ever seen a shootout over a bottle of boubon? People are self destructive....what is your vice? People are stupid....nice. Where did you get your PhD? Now alcohol. What is the number of alcohol arrest? What is the number of the population? Your view of society and it's people is alarming. I do not like being called stupid and I bet I know some others who would not care to hear that you consider us this way. Your generalizations are insulting. |
| Danny Stewart Monday, January 31, 2011: 12:21 pm More from Danny Stewart | Hoosier, Nevermind! |
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