Fear not, legal theorists. Your views are about to get put to the test. I see this as an early test of the theory which says that "Incarceration" (and the War On Drugs) is the cause of the breakdown of communities that fit a certain profile:
- Poor
- Minority
- Urban
- A High Rate Of "Female Headed Households"
As the theory goes - if the government, via the Judicial System stopped locking people up and/or when they do so, not for the long periods of time then many of the social problems that are seen in these areas will be mitigated. The government policy is blamed for the break down in the families and the communities.
We will soon see.
My criticism with this theory is that it is government centric. Most of the demand for CHANGE is placed upon the government and its policies. Worse yet its not a call for the government to "back off" and allow the people to operate in the context of that which they know how to naturally do to feed and care for their families. Instead we will see a call for even more government intervention in their lives. This time with calls for "corrective Social Justice" policies.
If California did any of this under the guise of saving tax payer money they will soon see how wrong were. This will be an initial transfer of where the government money is spent.
Setting Up For The Future
When I read these type of calls for reform I can't help but notice that the most frequent orientation is to have a "Government Centric" approach. The individual seeking a better pathway is a bit player in the entire scheme. After the police changes, the court system changes, the prison system changes and the parole system changes a scad mention is made of the CHANGES necessary by the INDIVIDUAL to whom which these other institutional elements are focused upon.
The activist community works so hard "on behalf of" those who are both at risk of being channeled into the system and who are within the clutches of the system. What we need it to re-rationalize the relationship between the individual and our community/society. I have no doubt that there is a need to reform the institutions that control our society, keeping law and order. In my view we have gotten away from the duty to inform the individual about the responsibility that he has to his community. The laws that he breaks must be seen as the community's laws. There is no question that when he attacks a person in the community he has violated the community and not just the laws that were made in some distant legislative body.
It is the cultural institutions that have come under attack over the years as social and government institutions have been put forth to take their place. A police officer is likely to always be a blunt instrument for law enforcement. They will never replace the presence of a strong and responsible male within the house.
I fear that after all of these investments are made into reforming the system AND with the absence of accountability by the person in question (I was trying to avoid calling him a "criminal" just now) the grand experiment might have the effect of producing a more violent society as a larger number of people who are prone to violence and lawlessness will be on the streets. They will be preying on the very people who worked to change the LAWS but not THIS INDIVIDUAL. (Or at least not change him to the point where when one asks "Did it work?" They can answer affirmatively.
In addition to the question of "is it just for these people to be locked up?" as heard from people who believe that these non-violent drug crimes are not worthy of such a sentence. I think that the language which asks "How do we inculcate the individuals who are indoctrinated in our communities so that they respect their community and vie for its proper function?" needs to be crystallized.
Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times
The attorney general says state officials are deciding whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling requiring a reduction of nearly 43,000 prisoners over the next two years.
By Carol J. Williams
August 6, 2009
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has denounced a court order to release more than one out of every four state prisoners in California as counterproductive interference by judicial activists, and said state officials were still deliberating Wednesday whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
While acknowledging that Tuesday's ruling by a three-judge federal panel aims to resolve the same problems with severe prison overcrowding that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to, Brown said the court's latest edict on how to improve the corrections system has only contributed to the "Kafka-esque nightmare" confronting the cash-strapped state.
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