I wake up every morning thankful I live in Democrat Massachusetts and not some icky red state.
"New report slams Mass. on correction reform; Study urges state to shorten sentences and focus on parole" by Wesley Lowery | Globe Staff, March 25, 2013
Despite steeply declining violent crime rates, the percentage of Massachusetts residents behind bars has tripled since the early 1980s, as the Commonwealth has clung to tough-on-crime laws that many other states have abandoned as ineffective, according to a study being released this week.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Gun Control Confusion
Just wondering if you will surrender them to the mixed messages.
The 40-page report — endorsed by a coalition of prominent former prosecutors, defense attorneys, and justice officials — slams the state for focusing too much on prolonged incarceration, through measures such as mandatory minimum sentences, and for paying too little attention to successfully integrating prisoners back into society.
This is not just a social justice issue, the coalition argues, but a serious budgetary problem....
I have a feeling the second thing matters to them a hell of a lot more than the first.
“It’s an odd set of numbers: crime going down while prison populations are still going up,” said Greg Torres, president of MassINC, the nonpartisan research group that commissioned the study. “What the report shows is that it’s a problem with the corrections system.”
Because pri$on is about $omething else these days.
The study says Massachusetts, with its rising prison population, is heading in the opposite direction of several more traditionally law-and-order states — many of which have changed sentencing requirements, closed prisons, and cut costs. While other states have seen drops in incarceration in conjunction with falling crime rates, Massachusetts has seen the opposite.
Including Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas, you smug, self-righteous, Massachusetts shits!
So much for the joy of one-party Democrat liberalism!
In addition to the longer prison stays, Torres said, a reduction in post-release supervision has left Massachusetts with a recidivism rate higher than many other states, which in turn has sent more offenders back to prison....
Patrick administration officials note that many states that have changed their laws have utilized federal money from the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a pot of funding for data-driven criminal justice programs, which the state is currently pursuing....
As if we needed a pot of funding from the federal government to figure out we have a fa$ci$t tyranny going up here.
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Yup, it's all due the legacy of Willie Horton. What a crock of crap.
Nothing about the probation and parole scandals that might contribute to the problem.
Related: Sharing a Cell in Massachusetts
You have to due to overcrowding.
The State of Massachusetts is Mentally Ill
They certainly meet the criteria for it.
