Families of SOs Community Group
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My thoughts have evolved a lot on this subject in the last few months. I'm glad to hear someone speak so well on the subject.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34703-beyond-reform-abolishing-prisons
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34703-beyond-reform-abolishing-prisons
There will never be major prison reform until we can separate the penal system and corrections from politics. Right now with the political climate of this country, the prison system and our criminal justice system----and the sex offender registry----are being held hostage by the forces of politics and those who make the laws.
Over the years I have pondered many times what it will take to make the system fairer. I have finally come to the conclusion that the only way real reform with the system will come is when enough families have been affected by the unfairness of the system. Once enough families clamor for change, it will happen. I don't know that any major reform will happen until then; we have not reached the "tipping point" yet.
Another possible way it could happen is if it becomes too expensive to manage and it has to be sized down. Politicians don't want to be accused of being soft on crime, but if the money is no longer there to fund these programs, they will have to be reduced in size and scope. In the end, money trumps everything.
The politicians have a major hand in the mess we have created not only with our prisons but our sex offender registry. You cannot reasonably expect our lawmakers to abandon the principles----being tough on crime----that continue to get them elected and re-elected term after term. Politicians are not humanitarians or reform minded. The only figure they really care about is the 51 percent they need to win the next election.
It is for these reasons I think that court decisions in our favor are so important. For those of us dealing with the registry, we have a lot of legal arguments in our favor, but we have to file lawsuits. Politicians can many times wordsmith a law to get around a legal victory in our favor, but many times they cannot.
Our biggest victories have been achieved not because the politicians decided to be fair or just with sex offenders, but through legal victories by way of the courts.
Winning lawsuits takes the power out of the politicians' hands.
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