The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — A new study by the man who wrote Kentucky’s penal code puts much of the blame for overcrowded prisons on the state’s repeat offender law.
The report by University of Kentucky professor Robert Lawson says the repeat offender law originally was reserved for the worst criminals. Lawmakers have extended it so much over the years that it has “pushed the state’s corrections budget off the charts.”
The study comes as a group of legal experts prepare to make recommendations to the governor on issues including how to decrease prison costs.
The president of the Kentucky Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys, prosecutor Chris Cohron, told The Courier-Journal that his group is opposed to limiting the law to serious or violent offenders.
Cohron says offenders who repeat crimes should have additional penalties.
I think the professor is mistaken. The reason for overcrowding is not the extension of the Penal code. It’s the offenders who don’t learn the first 4-5 times they are arrested. Check just about any offender in the system and you might just find they were probated once or twice before going to prison. Then their attorney probably got them shock probation after a few weeks or months. Shock probation is just a fance term for early release. If they haven’t learned the first 4-5 times, how does one justify shock probation? Oh yeah, I forgot about “Home Incarceration”, that’s a good one. Deal drugs out of your home, tell the Judge you’re sorry and want to change, get to stay home (ala home incarceration) and make money by dealing more drugs. Great Idea…. Our society justifies wrongdoing with excuses. Either it’s right or wrong. If you’re wrong, you go to jail for the ENTIRE time the Jury gives you. If the inmates have assets, forfeit them to the state for payment of their upkeep. If they don’t,(then they are probably on welfare so take their free cheese and sell it to pay for their upkeep), or some other approved method.
Are you kidding me? How can a law be to blame for something happening. It’s like saying the tree was a fault if you drive off the road and hit it. The law did not make the person become a repeat offender, but is holding them accountable for their actions. When are people in our society going to stand up and take responsibility for their own actions.
If I commit a crime, I’m at fault. The law didn’t make be break it, it’s not my parent’s fault, and it’s not society’s fault. I chose to break the law; I go to jail. It’s that simple. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND GET A JOB!!!!!!