Fools of Felony

Fools of Felony
Dumbplumber often reads of the gnashing, screeching and caterwauling by folks critical of the overcrowding in our prison systems, California notwithstanding. The cost, the waste, the corruption, the overwhelming size of the problem is almost incalculable. But it is not without solution.

First, we currently treat prisoners, wanna-be prisoners and prisoners-in-training in a bottoms up fashion. Stated another way, adjusted statistically, we have a lot more street thugs in the jug than we do Harvard graduates. And some, like myself, think that that just might be part of the problem.

You see, many offenders, no, most offenders, no, all offenders suffer from one symptom: respect for other’s rights. Now this may be manifested in many ways. But one way seems to be prevailing: Lack of fear of the consequences of what they are doing, which is really just shorthand for, “hey ‘they’ got away with it”.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Love, Hate and Greed rank right up there for motive, but lack of fear of the consequences is the bottom line for everyone. About the only folks that violate this formula are the serial killers, sociopaths and narcissistic political leaders. But in the big picture, we could park those inmates in one county jail and have room left over for the drunk tank.

Case in point, how many hours go by in the 24/7 news cycle that we don’t hear about some bureaucrat, mid-level flunky or city manager that has gamed the system out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through graft, corruption or union contract, that loses their job, but cannot be denied a million dollar golden parachute, because of “contractual” obligations?

Yes folks, everyday somewhere this picture plays out to the dismay of millions, disgusted with the inability or lack of will to thwart it. Ergo, you build disrespect and universal animus. I submit that if you begin whacking those at the top, just as hard as those at the bottom, you will build a pyramid of respect that will trickle down to the lowest of street thugs.

Stated another way: If you show those at the bottom, that those at the top will not get away with crime, they will begin to respect the system a lot more than they do now.