[ROVERNET - UK] OT Prison

[Glen Wilson]

Brooks wrote:
>
>
>  You are to be commended for your warmth and caring....however in many 
> cases these criminals already found God at their bail hearings or trial.
>

Of course, my two cents is needed here...

The shame of it is that many people who are in prison really are capable 
of straightening out and being rehabilitated, but we in the USA have 
more and more one-size-fits-all laws with mandatory sentences and no 
latitude allowed to judges or parole boards to cut some slack to those 
who would make the best of it and become good citizens. It's easier to 
pass mandatory sentencing laws than it is to find good people who have 
enough good judgment to be trusted as judges.

I don't know what to do with the ones who are really far gone or 
inherently evil.

The point is that all of these people who are in prison are individuals 
with their own individual crimes. Someone with wisdom should be allowed 
to judge them and sentence them based on exactly what actions they took 
and on the person they actually, individually are.

Sentencing guidelines and good judges, not mandatory sentences.

Some of this is said based on my experience as a jury foreman in a 
criminal case. A thief went into a house and robbed a drug dealer at 
gunpoint. No one was injured. The judge sentenced him to 41 years in the 
state prison.

Glen