Three strikes and other legal silliness

George Will, conservative columnist, once wrote that the five most glorious words in the Constitution are, "Congress shall make no law." Never mind what might have followed in the text of the Constitution. Just, "Congress shall make no law." That's a truly libertarian position to take, from one who used to be a Goldwater speech writer.

"Congress shall make no law." Well.

There are laws that obviously need to be made, but there is a law of unintended consequences that isn't written, but surely binds. To wit:

Once upon a time, someone thought a "Three strikes and you're out" law would be a pretty good idea. On the surface of it, it sounds great. Three felony convictions and, buddy, you're locked up and the key is in the sewer somewhere. But there were unforeseen issues. There were those who were repeat offenders of violence, and it's hard to argue that these should be allowed back on the street. But the three strikes laws give no consideration to whether the three offenses are, in fact, violent. Does it seem reasonable, given our already overcrowded prisons, that we should place non-violent offenders away for life while we grant early release to violent offenders?

It makes no sense to me. I worked at an adult max joint - the Joliet Correctional Center - for about three years. Part of the center was a Reception and Classification Facility. Inmates would be transported in by their county sheriff - the Cook County one was, by far, the largest - and the state correctional department would determine what kind of facility the inmate would be shipped to. Maximum? Medium? Minimum? If you came in with a life sentence, it was a stone-cold guarantee that you would go to a max joint. When I worked in Joliet, I rubbed elbows with people who would have killed me without blinking an eye if they had the chance. They'd done it before. I dealt with rapists who continued to see women - and men - as so much dressed-up meat. I've had boiling water on me. I've worn urine home. I've worn a bloody shirt home (the blood wasn't mine; I was a kind of crazy person in the day.) It was during that time that my drinking was at its worst.

And if I had run into someone who was in a max joint for a non-violent offense I'd wonder, "What in HELL are you doing here?" But, under current law, that's where they are,

Shame on us and our vigilante justice.

But, then, there are areas where I go all vigilante. To wit: pedophiles. Those who would sexually abuse a child. For these people, I would be all in favor of a life sentence. No parole. First offense. I know - there would have to be gradations, and I would advise any teenager to wait for marriage - subject for another discussion - but I don't think you can treat a relationship between an 18-year-old and a 15-year-old in quite the same way as you would treat a 40-year-old who abuses a 4-year-old. Still, I'd be pretty severe. There are two particular reasons for my thinking this way.

One, most criminals do age out of their types of crimes at some point. A 45-year-old armed robber is a comparatively rare critter, and armed-with-intent and assault with a deadly weapon are, for the most part, a younger person's game. Sexual offenders tend not to age out of their habits. A pedophile at 30 is a pedophile at 70. (Note the frequent use of the word "tend". I'm aware there are exceptions.) The only way to keep society safe is to remove them permanently.

The second reason has to do with that unintended consequences thing. Davenport is a case in point. Iowa has a law that a sex offender cannot live within a certain distance of a school. Good idea, right? Except. . .except. . .there is a mobile home park way out west on Kimberly Road. It's not near a school, and offenders can live there. So offenders do live there - a cluster of them. The schools are safe - great! - but what do you think the families who live in or near that mobile home park think of this? Are they just as pleased as punch that so many sex offenders are clustered right over THERE?

So just remove them

Or let me have at 'em. Father of 5, grandpa to 10 - who owns garden shears. I leave to your imagination. . .