News of the Day 9-21-06

Another state rushes through a sex offender law, then sees the consequences--KY is being sued over a new law that restricts any former sex offender in the state, even those off probation or parole, from living within 1000 ft. of a school, licensed day care, or public parks with pools or playgrounds (aka just about everywhere). The plaintiffs include an 80-year-old man in a nursing home with dementia and heart trouble, a 66-year-old man who has lived with his wife for 39 years in their home, and an 80-year-old whose sister left him the condo he lives in on the condition that he couldn't sell it. These folks aren't going for money, just for the law to leave them alone. . . . The Baltimore Sun has a story on the $1 m.+ a year the state spends on inmate assault. Oh, and that doesn't include costs of transport to hospitals or of prosecuting the assaulters. . . . The USA Today story is titled "Is Adult Prison Best for Juveniles?", which should get the topic across. Decent overview. . . . In TX, Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman espouses a different sort of sex offender punishment--they should be locked up and forced "to listen to a Negro talking to himself." Of course, some people are vocalizing protest, but in a four-person race, this might just put him over the top. (I'm not really kidding.). . . As we wait to be proven wrong in our "California Challenge," here's a good summary piece, complete with timeline, on CA's problems and the failure of its recent special session to act on its corrections and sentencing policy needs (uh, it's a Gordian Knot, I keep telling you). And then there's this today on the governor's solution--more prison beds, then, someday, we'll get to treatment programs. IOW, same old, same old until things actually start to spin apart. Well, at least they're not failing to address federal court demands . . . wait, uh . . . .