Child rapists, burglars, murderers, drug dealers and all around thugs are being released everyday into our communities. (names and crimes committed by of those released in New Hanover County in June) They have served their time in the North Carolina State prison system and are now roaming about the streets looking for work, looking for money. This make you a little nervous?
Certainly I do not mean to suggest that all of these folk released into
our neighborhoods are unredeemed and unrepentant. I am sure several of
those punished have learned valuable lessons and are ready to become productive
members of our society.
But let's look at the statistics and see who these people are.
Family Background
* Thirty-one percent of jail inmates had grown up with a parent or guardian
who abused alcohol or drugs
* About 12 percent had lived in a foster home or institution.
* Forty-six percent had a family member who had been incarcerated.
* More than 50% of the women in jail said they had been physically or
sexually abused in the past, compared to more than 10% of the men.
Criminal History
* Fifty-three percent of jail inmates were on probation, parole or pretrial
release at the time of arrest.
* Four in 10 jail inmates had a current or past sentence for a violent
offense.
* Thirty-nine percent of jail inmates in 2002 had served 3 or more prior
sentences to incarceration or probation, down from 44% in 1996.
Characteristics of State Prison Inmates
* Women were 6.6% of the State prison inmates in 2001, up from 6% in 1995.
* Sixty-four percent of prison inmates belonged to racial or ethnic minorities
in 2001.
* An estimated 57% of inmates were under age 35 in 2001.
* About 4% of State prison inmates were not U.S. citizens at yearend 2001.
* About 6% of State prison inmates were held in private facilities at
yearend 2001.
* Altogether, an estimated 57% of inmates had a high school diploma or
its equivalent.
* Among the State prison inmates in 2000:
-- nearly half were sentenced for a violent crime (49%)
-- a fifth were sentenced for a property crime (20%)
-- about a fifth were sentenced for a drug crime (21%)
Incarcerated Parents and Their Children
In 1999 an estimated 721,500 State and Federal prisoners were parents
to 1,498,800 children under age 18.
* 22% of all minor children with a parent in prison were under 5 years
old.
* Prior to admission, less than half of the parents in State prison reported
living with their children -- 44% of fathers, 64% of mothers.
Recidivism
* Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, an
estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within
3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% re-sentenced to prison for
a new crime.
* The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 accounted for nearly 4,877,000
arrest charges over their recorded careers.
* Within 3 years of release, 2.5% of released rapists were rearrested
for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were
arrested for a new homicide.
* Sex offenders were less likely than non-sex offenders to be rearrested
for any offense –– 43 percent of sex offenders versus 68 percent
of non-sex offenders.
* Sex offenders were about four times more likely than non-sex offenders
to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from prison
–– 5.3 percent of sex offenders versus 1.3 percent of non-sex
offenders.
To me it looks like a cause for alarm. Some 2-3,000 ex-cons are being
released every year in New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, and Onslow Counties.
Far too many of the perpetrators of the most recent violent crimes, in
our community, have been committed by criminals with previous felony convictions.
Most of these criminals have been given a couple of chances to reform.
They have had probation, allowed pleas to lesser charges and have even
had suspended sentences issued on promises to go and sin no more.
I am not safe when I look at the statistics. I am not safe when my sister
tells me her car was broken into or my neighbor's alarm is triggered by
someone tampering with a window. I am not safe, come to think of it, as
long as we look at criminals as society's overlooked and unfortunate citizens
and treat them as such.
My brother Marc has a saying about rehabilitating criminals. He says bluntly
that, "You cannot rehabilitate someone who has not been 'habilitated'
in the first place. You can't take the shards of something and make it
into something it never was in the first place and expect it to function
as something it was never meant to be." Most criminals suffer from
antisocial disorder, which in simple terms means that they do not have
the ability to see the difference between right and wrong.
In one of my psych courses I remember studying an actual test administered
to determine personality profiles of offenders. One of the questions in
that test that stands out in my mind as a perfect example of how "experts"
scientifically (or should I say comically) detect a criminal mind is paraphrased
as follows:
A neighbor backs over your dog in his driveway and accidentally kills
it. Choose one of the following to best illustrate how you might handle
yourself in dealing with your neighbor and this accident.
1. Hurt my neighbor and/or any members of his family.
2. Find something of my neighbors and destroy it.
3. If my neighbor has a dog I would kill it.
4. None of the above.
Now the person taking this test knows he/she is being evaluated. They
could lie right? You would be surprised at how many of those taking the
test do not have any idea that 1-3 are bad ideas. They seriously do not
know what is right and what is wrong.
James Q. Wilson, a noted Harvard professor, penned his expert opinion
on mans' nature in this study of rehabilitation. In his book, Thinking
About Crime, Wilson wrote, "It requires not merely optimistic
but heroic assumptions about the nature of man to lead one to suppose
that a person, finally sentenced after (in most cases) many brushes with
the law, and having devoted a good part of his youth and young adulthood
to misbehavior of every sort, should, by either the solemnity of prison
or the skillfulness of a counselor, come to see the error of his ways
and to experience a transformation of his character." And, as
Wilson would later conclude, that character was often more "wicked"
than errant.
Why not? Why not look at a hardened criminal as wicked or evil or ...predatory?
Unrepentant, unable to be "habilitated" successfully.
How do we as community citizens or even legislators support prison reform,
or sentencing structures when we do not know who we are dealing with?
What paradigms do we follow when dealing with the very people who are
capable of destroying your life?
As we look to the precautions taken at the Democratic Convention in Boston
and the Republican Convention in New York we will see the enormous amount
of security brought in to protect those in attendance. Super secret spy
gear, and old fashioned manpower will pry open the Bill of Rights and
poke holes all through it just to assure their freedom and protection.
Who cares about "their freedom" when my freedom may be in jeopardy
because repeat offenders and seriously "wicked" individuals
are set to prey on me and my family right here in my local community.
I am desperate for a change in the way we handle our immediate
homeland security. Where is the funding to see to it that some devilish
local axis of evil doesn't terrorize me due to his/their random drive
by shooting or his/their societal "need" to get a leg up economically
in order to function on an equal status as the rest of us?
Lessons learned come from the Bible and Koran both, as well as most all
ancient studies of principle and moral behavior. It is all basic, simple,
and it starts with the family. A focus on the young, our children. Education,
healthcare, and basic needs need to be filled effectively before we can
eliminate crime. We need leaders unblemished by allegations of corruption
and greed. We need a community that cares enough to vote for what is best
rather than who promises what to whom. And most importantly we need individuals
willing to sacrifice for our future, willing to give what it takes to
assure our children a safer world.
For now all we have are the brave men and women who patrol the thin blue
line for tens of thousands of dollars less than those private security
contractors keeping the Pizza Hut safe over in Iraq. It is their sacrifice
that helps in separating the citizens from the chaos and despair brought
upon us by those who would do us harm. Protecting the sanctity of our
families and our property with little more than courage and a badge. And
for that I am extremely grateful.
SPEAK OUT IN THE FORUM
