tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post8325876042109137097..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Lessons from SCOTUS ruling on California prison crowdingGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-26308105000931591742011-06-06T13:40:04.056-05:002011-06-06T13:40:04.056-05:00To me that would be like outsourcing all the state...To me that would be like outsourcing all the state records like <a href="http://ohio-publicrecords.org/ohio-death-records.html" rel="nofollow">Ohio death records</a>, and in my own opinion the prison sentences need to stick and that is something we need to heavily look into if there is overcrowding!Tammynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-44423725049701183982011-05-31T21:48:35.421-05:002011-05-31T21:48:35.421-05:00When criminals stop committing crimes, the crime r...When criminals stop committing crimes, the crime rate rates will drop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-3779392204195515832011-05-25T18:24:47.559-05:002011-05-25T18:24:47.559-05:005:13, Also a headline from May 25: "Californi...5:13, Also a headline from May 25: "<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18135903?nclick_check=1" rel="nofollow">California homicide rate drops to 44-year low</a>." If all those prisoners were released last year, the crime spike didn't show up in the data. Certainly something to watch going forward. Either way, the SCOTUS order stands.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-63066642380625668452011-05-25T17:13:49.279-05:002011-05-25T17:13:49.279-05:00May 25
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California improperly...May 25<br /><br />SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California improperly paroled more than 450 dangerous criminals without supervision last year as part of a program designed to reduce prison crowding and cost, the California prison system's independent inspector general said Wednesday in a report.<br /><br />A faulty computerized risk-assessment program predicted the offenders could be released under the state's non-revocable parole law that took effect in January 2010.<br /><br />The inspector general found that about 1,500 offenders were improperly left unsupervised, including 450 who "carry a high risk for violence."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-74597691420282256582011-05-25T11:46:53.969-05:002011-05-25T11:46:53.969-05:00There are concerns over whether or not counties wi...There are concerns over whether or not counties will have the budget to house the inmates, as well as the impact potential early releases could have on communities.<br /><br />“By flooding our neighborhoods with criminals, the court will make one of highest taxed states in the nation among the most dangerous as well, further tarnishing the California dream,” Board of Equalization Member George Runner, R-Lancaster, said in a written statement. “At a time when law-abiding Californians cannot find jobs, it’s hard to imagine how convicted felons will do anything other than return to a life of crime.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-59481850841699336462011-05-25T08:57:05.469-05:002011-05-25T08:57:05.469-05:008:53, Scalia later went on to say "Because th...8:53, Scalia later went on to say "Because these 'findings' have support in the record, it is difficult to reverse them under a plain-error standard of review," but he still refused to apply that standard or accept the findings! Why? He'd prefer to impose his own political views. I don't think my characterization was unfair at all.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61600526556300719592011-05-25T08:53:28.402-05:002011-05-25T08:53:28.402-05:00"[T]o judge by this quote" -- indeed. Bu..."[T]o judge by this quote" -- indeed. But that rather truncates and takes the statement out of its context. The way I read it, Scalia is merely saying that if ever there was a case that would demand flexibility in the law, this is it. However, it's the majority that is twisting the law to reach, not only their desired result, but a result that most thinking jurists would desire to avoid. He then goes on to explain how neither the text of the PLRA nor the Eighth Amendment demand the remedy that the majority has imposed. I'm not saying I agree with what he says (what do I know about the PLRA, for example), but to say that he embraces a "living constitution" based on a rhetorical flourish in the first part of the second paragraph (and ignoring the rest of the opinion) seems, at least, unfair.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-2809060758984969102011-05-25T06:23:11.071-05:002011-05-25T06:23:11.071-05:00What I'm reading here is the logical outcome o...What I'm reading here is the logical outcome of criminalizing drug use/addiction- the literature is rife with studies showing the majority of users are non-violent and that most addicts are criminal simply to support their habit-there are, to be sure, career criminals and violent offenders that need to be put away but the bang for the buck is in treating drug offenders and reintegrating them into society- how about this? you're a non violent non sex offender, you get parole, you stay out of trouble for five years after off papaer, and you get either some form of pardon or expunction- this could totally change repeater and enhancement sentencing- and it does not mean that victims are discounted-it simply means we begin to cut down on the increasing number of individuals who are so margainilized that they do not have a stake in the survival of this society- I am not a knee jerk liberal- I am pro death penalty, but am disturbed by the increasing number of people whose records for dumb ass crimes keep them from participating in the life of this societyTed Woodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-5709256257008396362011-05-25T05:54:31.816-05:002011-05-25T05:54:31.816-05:00FWIW, 12:59, Texas hasn't segregated by race f...FWIW, 12:59, Texas hasn't segregated by race for decades and operates on a <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/08/california-riots-while-texas-prisons.html" rel="nofollow">first bed available</a> basis. If we can do it without constant rioting, why can't California?Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-71021478548473911782011-05-25T00:59:38.382-05:002011-05-25T00:59:38.382-05:00The same fedgov which orders California to release...The same fedgov which orders California to release inmates also pressures California not to allow medical marijuana. <br /><br />Everyone in the California prison system knows that it is safer to segregate prisoners by race, but the US Supremes decided that they know better, that allocating inmates to cells on the basis of race is somehow wrong, and so ordered the California prison system to cease the practice. The result is ever more prison violence, sometimes turning into outright riots, mostly unreported by the major media.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-58229062877150133932011-05-24T22:55:46.138-05:002011-05-24T22:55:46.138-05:00Not the least bit surprised by Scalia's intell...Not the least bit surprised by Scalia's intellectual relativism.<br /><br />Originalism has always been a pretty bankrupt and unsupportable philosophy. As Justice Brennan famously put it, "arrogance cloaked as humility."<br /><br />BBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-32334973292343410012011-05-24T22:04:10.300-05:002011-05-24T22:04:10.300-05:00Thirty-five years ago there were bumper stickers i...Thirty-five years ago there were bumper stickers in Oregon: Don't Californicate Oregon. <br /> <br />The bumper sticker warned of the California disporia of people fleeing high taxes, high gas prices and utilities and high crime rates. The leading business in California is the prison industry. The most powerful union in the state is the union for correctional officers - prison guards. Escape while you still can - just don't raise taxes higher in the states you move to.<br /><br />The momentum moving California in the wrong direction probably can't be stopped or even slowed down. Is this the model for the rest of us?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-4141762640175717992011-05-24T19:32:40.304-05:002011-05-24T19:32:40.304-05:00Times change and attitudes shift. The good people ...Times change and attitudes shift. The good people of California now welcome inmates back into their communities. If only more states would follow their example.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-11205602243283847512011-05-24T14:47:02.980-05:002011-05-24T14:47:02.980-05:00Or perhaps the idea the whole idea of an "ac...Or perhaps the idea the whole idea of an "activist judge" was silly and naive in the first place. Perhaps there are only judges. Full stop.Timhttp://www.loadedguntheory.comnoreply@blogger.com