>>Yep, that's the whole point of having a justice system, to ensure that crimes are handled rationally and with regard for everyone's concerns, not just the victim or the victim's family.
>>
>
>And would you call today's CJS "rational"? Hahahahahahahahaha, sorry....

No, not at all. But if we don't advocate for what we want and deserve, we'll never get it.

>The theory sounds good, but in practice it is not working. As I see it, the problem is we have gone from focusing on the victim, to focusing on the suspect, or even the convicted. A rational approach would implement a little basic "behavior modification" therapy. I'm advocating such a plan in Memphis right now, and have a actually gotten the attention of some of our state legislators.
>
>I propose a modification of the sentencing guidelines so that most sentences would be reduced in length, but would escalate at each interval. Here's a sample scenario where one person gets arrested on different charges:
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>1st offense - shoplifting (automatic probation)
>2nd offense - prostitution (1 day in jail)
>3rd offense - driving while license suspended (10 days in jail)
>4th offense - prostitution (30 days in jail)
>5th offense - simple assault ( 2 months in jail)
>subsequent convictions result in a doubling of the previous sentence.
>etc.
>
>The "beauty" of such a system is that the criminals will learn the matrix to the point they can recite it, just like they know what happens today when you get arrested on a misdemeanor (not much). Additionally, these people should get what the sentece is, with no reduction for "good time" or anything else.
>


It's certainly an interesting idea. I think it's missing a key component. What's driving this person to commit repeated crimes. While there certainly are some amoral people out there, I don't think most crimes are the result of a simple desire to be bad.

Seems to me that along with punishment, you need social services to work on solving the underlying problems. Why is this woman selling her body? Is it to feed a drug habit? Then, treat the drug habit. Is it to feed a family? Then help them get food legitimately. Etc., etc., etc.

I think that over time, we could reduce crime dramatically by making good drug and alcohol treatment programs readily available and affordable, by ensuring that people get enough to eat and have somewhere warm to sleep, and by providing young parents with lots of support in how to raise kids. None of these would solve problems overnight, but the problems didn't develop overnight.

And, of course, I'm not naive enough to believe that all crime is the result of these social ills, but I think a lot of it is.

Tamar