Category: crime and punishment

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crime and punishment initiative, referendum, and recall

Between a Rock and Our Rights

It’s heart-​breaking to read the daily accounts of the Syrian government shelling neighborhoods and snipers gunning down protesting citizens in the streets. Syria, sadly, is hardly the only place where speaking one’s mind or seeking political change can be met with threats and violence.

Sometimes the brutality comes from the government itself. Sometimes the acts of intimidation and bloodshed come from extra-​legal gangs acting in concert with those in power.

Thank goodness we live in a country where one doesn’t have to fear violence for one’s political beliefs and activities.

Or do we?

Like many cities and states in our land, Colorado’s public employee pension system is woefully underfunded, $21 billion behind, putting taxpayers and/​or retirees in grave jeopardy. In addition to the financial problem is a serious lack of accountability.

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton sits on the board of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA). But when he asked for some basic information about benefits, the board refused. Stapleton complains that “it seems their objective is for all board members to operate in the dark and act as a rubberstamp for their executives.” He’s filed a lawsuit seeking the information.

Luckily, Colorado citizens have access to the initiative petition process. Recently, Carol Baum and Karen Stauffer filed initiatives to reform PERA, including requiring greater transparency. Last Friday, they attended the first hearings to finalize their measures.

That’s when the threatening phone calls began. And then on Sunday, Karen Stauffer’s car window was smashed out by a large rock.

Something is rotten in Denver. Tyranny is wielding its most powerful weapons: fear and intimidation. The only antidote is courage.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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crime and punishment initiative, referendum, and recall

Running Democracy’s Red Light

In the traffic snarl of political ideas, the liberating concept behind America seems as straightforward as the freeway: The people are the boss, with rights above government, and “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The people have a green light to pursue happiness, provided that in their liberty they don’t diminish someone else’s equal right. Conversely, government is limited, facing red lights, and flashing yellows, from the people.

In theory.

Too often our judges and our “elected” representatives don’t get it. They shine red lights at the people. Just happened in Washington State on the issue of … well … red light cameras.

In dozens and dozens of public votes held across the country on the issue of red-​light cameras, voters have a 100 percent track record of saying “No,” to those Orwellian contraptions. That’s what happened in Mukilteo, Washington, thanks to a referendum pushed by Tim Eyman. It’s happened in numerous other Washington cities and localities.

So American Traffic Solutions, the company providing this cash-​creating “service,” formed a front group and sued to block local citizens from petitioning the issue to the ballot box.

In a narrow 5 – 4 decision, Justice Barbara Madsen wrote for the majority: “The legislature granted to local legislative bodies the exclusive power to legislate on the subject of the use and operation of automated traffic safety cameras. The legislature’s grant of authority does not extend to the electorate.”

Say, what? The very power granted by the legislature, and now denied the people in court, came from the people. The voters are the ultimate “legislative authority.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
crime and punishment

They Shoot Deer, Don’t They?

Eight dead sea lions — a water mammal belonging to the taxonomical grouping called pinnipeds, but known to most as “big seals” — were found washed ashore with bullet holes in their carcasses.

Sad. Sea lions are interesting if not exactly beautiful mammals.

The sentimentalist in me shudders at any such death. But, as I sit back eating a hamburger, I can’t say I am against killing non-​human animals. Perhaps we should save our shudders for the  wasteful nature of the slaughter: No meat, blubber, or hide was used.Seal of Approval

The news report I read warily mentions how fishermen view sea lions — as competition. The report doesn’t mention the sea lions’ protected status: You can get into big trouble shooting a sea lion in most places.

And yet, from reports I’ve heard (and occasionally read: this is an unpopular topic for journalists to cover), these carnivorous mammals are indeed quite a problem for west coast fisheries. Oft told are tales of removing sea lions from Columbia River dams’ fish ladders, where they gorge themselves, and shipping them off to the ocean — only to have them reappear at the dams lickety-split.

An alternative to such heroic and expensive protection and removal schemes would be to manage sea lion populations with planned hunting seasons. River fish are increasingly scarce, so leaving pinniped populations unmanaged will further upset ecosystem balance.

Besides, with sea lion hunts, we would see less poaching.

After all, hunters shoot deer, don’t they? And deer are a lot prettier than sea lions.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
crime and punishment

Policing the Prosecutors

Those who prosecute our laws have a solemn responsibility to seek justice, not simply victories in court. Their duties include not prosecuting the innocent and allowing defendants to examine all evidence.

Yet, in their zeal to look good with superiors — or to have better material for their political re-​election ads — prosecutors too often forget about the justice part.

That’s why media watchdogs like blogger Radley Balko are so important.

Longtime Common Sense readers may remember Balko for helping free Corey Maye from Mississippi’s death row.

Now Balko brings us the 2011 Worst Prosecutor of the Year Award. Folks like us get to decide the winner from the ten prosecutors he’s nominated. (Mark your ballot here.)

You could vote for District Attorney Tracey Cline. She replaced disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong, who tried to frame the Duke Lacrosse team, and she’s following in his footsteps.

Or consider Grant County, Wisconsin, District Attorney Lisa Riniker. She charged a 6‑year-​old boy with first-​degree sexual assault for playing doctor with a neighbor girl.

There’s Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who charged Mark Fiorino with “reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct” for tape-​recording police threatening to kill him for openly and legally carrying a gun.

I’m voting for my local prosecutor, State’s Attorney Paul Ebert of Prince William County, Virginia. It’s Ebert’s third nomination in a career of failing to investigate official corruption … too busy hiding evidence from defendants.

Mulling over the list of nominees, one’s reminded that power must be checked.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
crime and punishment too much government

Government and Pain

Siobhan Reynolds died last weekend in a plane crash. I learned about this from Radley Balko, who reviewed Ms. Reynolds’s crusade at The Agitator. Her story is worth remembering.

Sean Greenwood, her former husband, suffered from chronic headaches and a connective tissue disorder. Unfortunately, pain management was not taken very seriously by doctors in those days, and the federal government made matters far worse by treating doctors who prescribed pain medication as “pushers” rather than legitimate healers. In The Chilling Effect, a movie Ms. Reynolds produced about pain and policy regarding it, she details Greenwood’s travails, and other’s. It’s a harrowing story, and the government doesn’t come out looking very good.

Ms. Reynolds’s main effort centered on the Pain Relief Network, which she organized. Her mission was to defend those doctors whom she thought were being unjustly harassed by the drug warriors. Specifically, she defended doctors who engaged in high-​dose opioid therapy, a course Mr. Greenwood and other patients found to offer some relief. As Balko puts it, she was not without success, getting “some sentences overturned, and hooked accused doctors up with attorneys who know the issue. ” Unfortunately, that’s likely why prosecutors went after her, and in another horrible misuse of sealed court proceedings, suppressed her organization and brought her close to ruin.

There’s an old phrase, “doctor knows best.” That’s obviously not always true, but it’s certainly the case that government does not know best. Especially about pain.

Though it surely causes a lot, adding to our suffering.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
crime and punishment

Crime’s Up, Crime’s Down

Perception isn’t the same as reality. Americans often perceive, for instance, that crime is increasing. But the truth is that crime has been on the decline for decades.

Can’t say that about crime in Great Britain, though. Crime rates there are up. According to a recent report, “Robbery is now 1.4 times more common in the UK than on the other side of the Atlantic, while assaults are 2.3 times more likely.” And though the U.S. still leads in murder, the situation is getting worse, not better, in Britain: “The murder rate has risen by 26 per cent in London and 85 per cent in Northumbria.” Yikes.

The report’s authors attribute the cause for this rise in crime to “the leniency of police towards suspects and the reluctance of the legal system to convict criminals and jail them.…” A government spokesperson, blaming previous administrations, insists that the “risks of being caught have been declining.”

This analysis sounds reasonable. And yet, my perception — based on what I read, that’s all — is that another set of factors has almost certainly contributed to England’s crime jump. While in America it is becoming easier to own, carry and conceal personal weaponry, it has become much more difficult in Great Britain. Even knives and hunting rifles are heavily regulated, and sidearms are pretty much prohibited. (In the past I’ve related some of the stories.)

With diminished capacity to defend themselves, peaceful Brits become easy targets for those who would abuse them.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.