I would like to point out that some conclusions are being drawn that are neither the facts nor were they contained in the article. First off, if you don't believe in community service for minor violations than it won't matter debating, and you should probably not even continue reading this post, but rather head over the comics section of the Strib where you can have a few laughs and not let your blood pressure rise from the thought of people "getting off easy".
To begin with, this was not a program exclusively for Black people nor was it simply two hours of community service. Only Jason Young, the first person mentioned, says two hours, none of the others mentioned time, and as I understand it, the range was from 2-8 hours depending upon the severity of the violation, and this was determined by a judge after they waited in line for an hour to two. Second, I don't see how anyone can call this light without knowing the actual details of the offenses and punishment. Unless Jason was the one that hit Jill's car and did the damage, it's misleading to say that all this person had to do was 2 hours and that was it. And if that was the case, Jill should be on her insurance company and their attorney for not making sure this guy was prosecuted. Did they give you a reason why? Third, the purpose of this initiative was to give people a second chance. Have them come in, perform some restorative justice service to the community, and start fresh. These were not murderers and rapists, these were people who screwed up, drove without a license, let their insurance lapse, etc. In fact, the common violation for each of the people mentioned was driving without a valid license. A minor offense. I'm not saying that no one there did worse or that this was it, but we're hardly talking about the leader of the GDs for arson. Who amongst us has not screwed up somewhere along the lines, and who amongst us has not needed a second chance to get something right or an opportunity to face something that you've been afraid to deal with. It's well and good to say that they should just go to court like everyone, but that can be pretty intimidating when you have little to no understanding of the legal system or how justice is dispensed. How many people really knew what Nolo Contendere meant before going to court? The bottom line is this was an opportunity to help some people who made a mistake and wanted to get back on track. Two of the three people talked directly about taking responsibility for themselves and how great it was to have the opportunity to move past this and never do it again. Doesn't that present a case of how giving second chances can lead to better citizens? Doesn't that present the case that it was worth it? What is the going rate for a cleaner community, a clear conscience, empowerment and better citizenry? Our criminal justice system is disproportionally filled with people of color, the poor and the uneducated. Certainly there are a lot of people who are criminals, deserve punishment and severe penalties within it. But there are also a large group who have made a mistake, and just don't know how to deal with it. And if that's the case, as a benevolent community aren't we obligated to try and create that opportunity, and even if some "hardened criminals" escaped their traffic ticket with community service, isn't that worth it to save the one young kid who might have had a warrant out for no insurance that would have become a hardened criminal by doing jail time? Can we not, as a community or society, show mercy and be more concerned with punishing the murderer than the litterbug? Jonathan Palmer Victory TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
