Tuesday, October 30, 2007

News of the Day, Tuesday, October 30, 2007

  • When I actually got down and dirty in sentencing policy the first time, digging into criminal codes and building data sets for existing offenses, I would frequently come on offenses that puzzled me. Making terroristic threats? No, not bombings or that kind of terror, just scaring people credibly with the threat of violence into doing things. Making false statements to pawnbrokers? Why should we care if someone lies to . . . oh, I get it. And then there was the famous “theft of copper wire.” You puzzled, too? Well, this article will explain and show that it’s gotten to be a bigger deal than it was back in those halcyon days.
  • MSN.com discovers the variation and problems with teen sex laws across the states and decides that maybe someday we just might maybe could pay a little more attention to them.
  • Hey, you sex offenders on probation or parole in ID and SC. No turning on your lights for trick or treat. Or going out and looking for kids that night either. We mean it.
  • NV inmates fighting the CA fires, spreading their evil across the land.
  • If you’re wondering which private prison firms to invest in, check out the ones that have the best connections in the South. Why? Maybe headlines like these: Poor kids are majority at public schools in South. We know how well the public likes to support schools with poor kids, don’t we? Prisons sound like a great long-term investment there. I’m not kidding.
  • Another reason why “huffing” needs to be taken seriously, given its association with increased consideration of suicide by teen huffers.
  • Textbook case of bad policymaking, making decisions without finding out how they’ll be implemented, creating more costs down the road in the name of fiscal prudence. RI decides to lower the adult age for juveniles to avoid the higher juvenile costs for 17-year-olds than for adults in general population. However, because they’re 17 and not in for violent offenses for the most part now, DOC logically sends them to more secure facilities to protect them, costing more than the juvenile sentence would have. And, now they’ve got kids being sent to max security, to become better at what they got sent there for. Every crim just bill ought to be sent to a Logic Department for approval before it can ever be sent for a vote. I’m willing to make that in the form of a motion if I can get a second.

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