'Mandatory' Sentences - KARE 11 Report

[TomS]

I hardly ever look at Face Book but happened to take a look today and found this link from GOCRA.

The Minnesota Legislature should listen to what GOCRA's founder, Professor Joseph E. Olson, has been telling them for more than three decades: "IT'S THE CRIMINAL, STUPID!"

Under Minnesota law there is a mandatory minimum amount of time criminals who use a gun should be sentenced to serve in prison. But our KARE 11 investigation found the amount of time they are sentenced to prison, if they get prison time at all, varies greatly from court to court and judge to judge.

http://www.kare11.com/longform/news/investigations/2014/11/17/mandatory-sentences-not-always-the-case-minnesota-gun-crimes/19196705/

Why make new law when we don’t enforce the one we already have.

[Bearcatrp]

Until they pass laws that state are mandatory instead of guidelines, these **** judges get to do what they want.

[Grayskies]

Maybe put some string on plea bargains too.

[Lumpy]

Maybe put some string on plea bargains too.

America's criminal justice system would collapse if everyone indicted for a felony had to be given a full jury trial. The system is dependent on piling on charges to blackmail defendants into plea bargaining.

[20mm]

Maybe put some string on plea bargains too.

America's criminal justice system would collapse if everyone indicted for a felony had to be given a full jury trial. The system is dependent on piling on charges to blackmail defendants into plea bargaining.

The US judicial system is fairly corrupt and about the only way I could see it getting better is with a collapse. Did anyone notice how many judges on the back of their ballots this year had no-one running against them?

[PhilaBOR]

The US judicial system is fairly corrupt and about the only way I could see it getting better is with a collapse. Did anyone notice how many judges on the back of their ballots this year had no-one running against them?

A collapse would surely make things better. There have been numerous documentaries about this: Escape from New York, Beyond Thunderdome, The Book of Eli...

[Grayskies]

If they decriminalize drugs, and commute sentences for non violent drug offenders (not that I like the idea much). It would open up a lot of jail space and take a lot of the load off the courts.

[jshuberg]

There are 3 problems:

1) The most significant is that in many subcultures being a criminal is a badge of honor. It gives you street cred. In other more civilized countries, being a criminal is detested by society. Those who commit a crime loose face, and are disowned by friends, family and society as a whole. When criminals are tolerated, and in some cases revered it only encourages more criminal behavior. As a society we no longer judge people, although we desperately need to.

2) The lack of a family or other structure for the youth. Without an adult to teach kids morality, right and wrong, and how to succeed and make a positive contribution, kids will often times seek out alternate, more destructive forms of entertainment and lifestyle choices. Kids need structure, and that has to start with the family. We pay single mothers without a job to be baby factories for their livelihood.

3) We don't punish criminals when we catch them. We put them up for a very brief time in essentially a hotel with a lock on the doors. They get free cable, workout rooms, etc. Many people actually experience an increase in their lifestyle while in jail, despite their temporary loss of freedom.

There are things we can do to fix these problems:

1) Begin judging people again. There's nothing at all wrong with judging people, despite the PC crowd claiming that it's wrong. We need to be comfortable as a society judging people who are deserving of it. Criminals should be despised.

2) Stop paying mothers to have babies. The notion that what's best for the child is to be with the mother has been shown to be a terrible mistake society has made. If a mother and/or father is determined to not be capable of raising a child, that child should be removed and placed up for adoption. Providing a proper and healthy family for the child is much more important that keeping a dysfunctional and helpless family together.

3) Put them in a cage and weld the door shut. No TV. No workout rooms. Just books and activities that teach a marketable skill so they can find employment on the outside should they be released. And bring back capital punishment for those who are either too dangerous to let out, or those that have no hope of rehabilitation after being convicted of a severe crime. There's no reason to loose an extremely dangerous person back on the world, or to pay to have them locked up until natural causes delivers them from us.

If we do these things, within 2-3 generations we might have the problem under control. If not, it's just going to get worse. For our generation and our children (depending on age), we will likely have to live in the society of our making for the rest of our lives. It is the consequences for extremely poor decisions.

[BigBlue]

There are 3 problems:

1) The most significant is that in many subcultures being a criminal is a badge of honor. It gives you street cred. In other more civilized countries, being a criminal is detested by society. Those who commit a crime loose face, and are disowned by friends, family and society as a whole. When criminals are tolerated, and in some cases revered it only encourages more criminal behavior. As a society we no longer judge people, although we desperately need to.

2) The lack of a family or other structure for the youth. Without an adult to teach kids morality, right and wrong, and how to succeed and make a positive contribution, kids will often times seek out alternate, more destructive forms of entertainment and lifestyle choices. Kids need structure, and that has to start with the family. We pay single mothers without a job to be baby factories for their livelihood.

3) We don't punish criminals when we catch them. We put them up for a very brief time in essentially a hotel with a lock on the doors. They get free cable, workout rooms, etc. Many people actually experience an increase in their lifestyle while in jail, despite their temporary loss of freedom.

There are things we can do to fix these problems:

1) Begin judging people again. There's nothing at all wrong with judging people, despite the PC crowd claiming that it's wrong. We need to be comfortable as a society judging people who are deserving of it. Criminals should be despised.

2) Stop paying mothers to have babies. The notion that what's best for the child is to be with the mother has been shown to be a terrible mistake society has made. If a mother and/or father is determined to not be capable of raising a child, that child should be removed and placed up for adoption. Providing a proper and healthy family for the child is much more important that keeping a dysfunctional and helpless family together.

3) Put them in a cage and weld the door shut. No TV. No workout rooms. Just books and activities that teach a marketable skill so they can find employment on the outside should they be released. And bring back capital punishment for those who are either too dangerous to let out, or those that have no hope of rehabilitation after being convicted of a severe crime. There's no reason to loose an extremely dangerous person back on the world, or to pay to have them locked up until natural causes delivers them from us.

If we do these things, within 2-3 generations we might have the problem under control. If not, it's just going to get worse. For our generation and our children (depending on age), we will likely have to live in the society of our making for the rest of our lives. It is the consequences for extremely poor decisions.

Word.

[20mm]

The US judicial system is fairly corrupt and about the only way I could see it getting better is with a collapse. Did anyone notice how many judges on the back of their ballots this year had no-one running against them?

A collapse would surely make things better. There have been numerous documentaries about this: Escape from New York, Beyond Thunderdome, The Book of Eli...

It's already collapsing, you just don't realize it.