Miscellaneous

A Nation of Addicts

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Are we addicted to prisons?

Here's a dose of reality and logic from Judge Michael A. Wolff of the Supreme Court of Missouri and Chief Justice Paul J. DeMuniz of the Oregon Supreme Court:

"[W]e use prisons as addicts use drugs: they don't do what the public expects them to do, so we use them even more, with the result that we need more because prison makes many inmates worse when they return to their communities, and prevents them from receiving programs in the community that wuld work. We overuse and misuse prison; the cure is using prisons wisely for public safety, which also means using them less than we do now. Building more prisons can only make criminal justice more dysfunctional than it already is."

The passage is from a letter to Team Obama, in hopes that change will bring about better public safety, lower recidivism, and addressing major flaws in the current system for the benefit of all.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on January 11, 2009 (boomark / email).