“Conventional wisdom” – lovely term isn’t it – tries to
correlate lower crime rates with tougher sentencing. However, study after study (both university and
Department of Justice) find there is no such correlation. No one ever avoided committing a crime because
of the perceived risk of lengthy incarceration.
In fact, what all this “get tough” approach may have done is make us a
nation of convicts.
It was recently reported that over 23% of all young people
between the ages of 18 and 24 will have arrest records. The United States currently has the highest
per capita incarceration rate in the world (number behind bars per 100,000) and
the largest prison population. We exceed
even China and the combined totals of North Korea, Iran, Syria and all the
other “terror states”. Combining federal
and state prisons and jails there are approximately 2.5 million people behind
bars. That’s almost one percent of the
nation’s population. Add to that the
eight million plus who have felony convictions (a sizeable number of whom are
under “community corrections”, i.e. probation or parole). That’s three percent of America. Not since England figured out shipping all
their convicts to Australia would solve their prison problem, has one nation
had such a large percentage of felons.
“Truth in Sentencing” reform was supposed to take away
disparity in sentences. It didn’t matter
where in Virginia (or any state for that matter; they all adopted the “truth in
sentencing” commission recommendations) you committed your offense, penalties
would be the same. Great concept, only
it didn’t work.
This week the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on a 72 year
old Richmond attorney who was sentenced to three years for embezzling in excess
of $1 million from individuals during his handling of real estate transactions
since 2005. He made no restitution. His attorney – coincidentally the same lawyer
who handled my case – had asked for a suspended sentence. The paper reported the defendant “cooperated
fully” and “expressed deep regret”. The
Henrico County Circuit Judge presiding over his case (coincidentally, I was
held in the Henrico county Jail after being denied bond. I was deemed a flight risk. He wasn’t.) gave the three year term as a “fair
punishment” for his wrongdoing.
My case was heard less than twenty miles west. I embezzled slightly over $2 million and made
immediate restitution of almost $600,000.
The Commonwealth Attorney noted my “complete cooperation” (his words at
my sentencing) and the state’s own forensic psychiatrist, in a report to the court,
indicated I was profoundly remorseful and that prison time would serve neither
a punitive nor rehabilitative purpose.
So what did the Judge in my case do?
He gave me fifteen years.
I don’t begrudge the Henrico defendant getting three
years. I don’t begrudge the Norfolk
bookkeeper being sentenced to four years in a $2.1 million embezzlement
case. I do question the integrity of the
system and I do submit that my sentence was excessive and unjust and shows the
hypocrisy of “truth in sentencing”. You
will never hear me say I didn’t deserve to be incarcerated. In fact, I will freely admit sending me to
prison was justified – not given other similarly situated embezzlement
defendants or the average sentence for child sex abusers.
And then there is GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Paul reminds me of the old, cranky guy in my
neighborhood when I was growing up. He was regimented and serious about
everything. He’d give stern warnings
about things and we’d laugh and tell ourselves he was crazy. As we aged we all realized he was wiser than
any of us hoped to be.
On the eve of last week’s New Hampshire primary, Paul –
during a candidates’ debate – was asked by Moderator George Stephanopoulos
about questions that had recently surfaced concerning alleged racist comments
in a 1980’s newsletter that bore his name. As USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham noted in an op-ed piece last Wednesday (1/11/2012), Paul said questions about what he wrote or knew about that long ago diverts attention away from the “true racism” in the nation’s judicial system that “disproportionately imprisons blacks for their involvement in crimes…” The questioner, the other candidates, the audience itself sat in numbed silence. Congressman Paul had pointed out the turd in the punch bowl.
In 2010, 69% of all people arrested in the United States
were white. Blacks accounted for 28% of
the arrests. These percentages were
relatively constant the entire decade.
During the same ten year period, approximately twice as many whites as
blacks were arrested each year for drug crimes.
Despite this, Virginia’s inmate population is disproportionately black
and poor. I learned early on I was in
the minority in more ways than one. I’m
white, which means I make up only about 35% of the inmate population. And of the white men locked up, most are in
for sex offenses, primarily child sex crimes and child pornography (and almost
all are serving substantially shorter sentences than me).
That disparity in incarceration rates shows a lack of
justice in the criminal justice system. As
I’ve written over and over in this blog, America’s criminal justice system,
Virginia’s criminal justice system, is badly flawed and in need of dramatic
overhaul.
You want real justice; begin with admitting there’s a
problem. Don’t just silently stand by
while the turd floats in the punchbowl.
It’s time for change, real systematic change: colorblind sentences that actually bring
about restorative justices, and prisons – when needed – where actual rehabilitation
and restoration takes place.
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