Seriously, I think you can accomplish both goals simultaneously..short and long term.
Agreed, violence is cultural, learned behavior. Too often we foment violence while presuming we'll curtail it
by punishment via incarceration. In the case of the bully neighbor, I don't know the details, but 15 years of
that bullshit tells me the community locals don't know how to invest in being proactive for the more vulnerable among us.
Society must be concerned first for the victims rights, and I like the idea of compensation because it can
translate into something tangible..meaning assist the victims lives for the better in short order. The assets
of the bully and how it is determined by the judge and the willingness of the perpetrator to come to a
reasonable agreement..well he could decide to hire an attorney and fight his charges, but in the end, if he has
half a working brain, he'll negotiate to stay out of jail. The second tier is important, must receive anger
management/mental heath help. In the end, he learns to get along with people in the best scenario and at
worst he learns boundaries where he keeps his nasty inclinations in check and is now on notice by the state
you have an opportunity that came with support to change, best not to fuck up. Community service is a
healthy way for him to use his new learned skills, the state gets feedback on how he's doing. I like mental
health workers/social workers..we can do much better..they're a pretty dedicated group, overall.
I do like this judge here: Broadman seems to have taken that to heart. He sentenced an illiterate woman to learn how to read. Another offender had to donate his car to a battered women's shelter. And — much ahead of his time — Broadman impounded the cars of repeat drunk drivers.
Here too I sympathize with him although I understand why the ACLU freaked out over it:
*Yet Broadman triggered a national tripwire in 1991 when a woman came before him with a long criminal record and a felony child abuse conviction for beating her young daughters. The woman was pregnant with her fifth child and, to protect her "un-conceived" children, Broadman gave her a choice: prison or probation using the birth control device Norplant for five years. The woman took the deal — but changed her mind and brought in lawyers.
There is much we can do to encourage a healthy state, this of course only scratching the surface but it is
a worthy undertaking and an important conversation. Prison rehabilitation is non existent for the most part
in the US and it is a terrible use of tax dollars.
I attended a friends commencement ceremony yesterday, at Bard College. One of their out reach programs
I was not aware of involves educating prisoners. The one young man who made it through and participated
in the graduation ceremony was evidently released from prison and now has a chance of moving on with his life,
but he is the rare exception because all that soft stuff on bad people never works, or so they say.
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