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When Punishment Doesn’t Fit The Crime

Aug 07, 2014
by Caroline Miller
mental illness and justice system, Richard A. Posner, Why Do We Punish?
8 Comments

While I was in public life, a judge appeared before me and my fellow commissioners to complain that he’d sentenced a man to 10 consecutive weekends in the county jail but that our facility was so overcrowded, the offender had been turned away each time.  The judge glared at the 5 commissioners in outrage.  Did we understand the absurdity of the situation?  I replied that I did.  The judge, knowing the overcrowded conditions, had sentenced someone of reliable character to 10 weekends in the county jail at the tax payer’s expense when community service was a viable alternative. Yes, I nodded, that was absurd.  

To be frank, there are few judges who can resist the temptation of an empty cell bed.  Generally, their passion is to fill it and never count the cost.  No doubt that’s why this nation spends 80 billion dollars a year incarcerating people who pose no physical threat to society and who could serve their sentences in more productive ways.  (Why Do We punish?” by Richard A. Posner, The New Republic, June 9, 2014.)  Unfortunately, we Americans love to criminalize behavior.  Currently there are 4,000 federal crimes on the books and more being written every day, not counting those drafted by state, county and city legislative bodies.  It’s a wonder anyone manages to stay out of jail.

Sadly, most people who find themselves behind bars are mentally ill. There’s nowhere else to house them.  Building jails is far more popular in the public’s eye than building treatment centers. Oh yes, I know there’s talk of providing more help for the mentally ill each time there’s a mass shooting.  Even the NRA gives the notion lips service, largely because it diverts our attention away from gun control.  But memory fades and we go on doing what we always have done, warehousing our sick in the criminal justice system.

 There are ways to reduce the number of jails needed in our society, if we had the will.  We could build those treatment centers we talk about, for a start.  We could decriminalize some crimes for another.  Possessing marijuana is one example.  But I suspect that crime is on its way out, anyway.  Once other states see the revenues marijuana brings in for Colorado and Washington, where the drug is legal, the other 48 won’t be far behind. 

 We could shorten jail sentences, too.   Research shows that to prevent recidivism, a shorter sentence is more effective than a longer one.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it has something to do with keeping a person’s ties with his or her community strong.   Unfortunately, the public is convinced longer sentences are better and few politicians who seek reelection dare to contradict. One judge did speak his mind, recently, however:   

 “…the American hatred of criminals is especially unforgiving, reflecting our ‘sink or swim’ mentality – the belief that America is the land of unlimited opportunity and whoever fails to take the opportunity offered, turning to crime instead, has only himself to blame for his perverse choice and his condign punishment…  It is the Calvinist spirit at work. (Ibid, pg. 50) 

mentally ill person being arrested

Courtesy of www.bipolarvillage.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8 Comments
  1. Bill Whitlatch August 7, 2014 at 9:14 am Reply
    EXcellent !
    • Caroline Miller August 7, 2014 at 9:23 am Reply
      Given the source, high praise. Thank you.
  2. Chuck Corrigan August 7, 2014 at 12:18 pm Reply
    Legislatures criminalize behavior, often including mandatory minimum sentences, not judges. Legislatures, not judges, determine if public funds will be spent on mental health clinics or jail beds. Most judges would welcome the discretion to decide what a defendant's sentence will be, and the availability of sufficient community resources to chose as an alternative to incarceration.
    • Caroline Miller August 7, 2014 at 2:40 pm Reply
      True. Judges do hate mandatory sentencing, but primary reason is that it cuts into their powers of discretion, not because they don't like to utilize bed space. No, judges aren't responsible for the lack of mental health services. The quote I gave was from a judge who was deploring the lack of such services. But judges are a part of the overcrowding problem and have been for years, at least in my neck of the woods. Thank you for chipping in, though. You are absolutely right about the evils of mandatory sentencing.
  3. Bill Whitlatch August 7, 2014 at 4:17 pm Reply
    In response to Mr. Corrigan we do have our Kevin Mannix crusaders of the world. Not only has he and his ilk been responsible for mandatory minimum, he also has a tendency to forget about the funding process for legislation.
    • Caroline Miller August 7, 2014 at 4:57 pm Reply
      Ah yes, I remember Mr. Mannix well. Good point, Bill.
  4. Susan Stoner August 10, 2014 at 2:15 pm Reply
    I spent a number of years as a prisoners' advocate. Yes, there are those who are mentally ill and those who have addiction problems. There are also some people who are so scary they probably can never be safely on the street. But, I would say the ill are not the majority. My experience was that many are illiterate, many never experienced any positive options in life and many grew up without hope or optimism. WE create criminals by neglecting our community's children. The idea that locking people away from society is going to teach them how to function successfully in society is illogical and doomed to failure--especially since life is even harder for them as ex-cons than life was before incarceration. If we spent the same amount of money on convicted people that we spend keeping them locked up, we would lower the recidivist rate. If we spent that money on children families, we would markedly lower the crime rate. Yup, I know, wishful thinking.
    • Caroline Miller August 10, 2014 at 2:53 pm Reply
      Susan, I applaud your observations and agree with what you have said. But there are more mentally ill in our prison than people realize and the percentage of women with mental illnesses who are incarcerated is higher than for men. The statistics are a little old (2006) but a good source of information is Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/us-number-mentally-ill-prisons-quadrupled

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Contact Caroline at

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Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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