What Happened To Law And Order? - Do the crime, do the time. Really?

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INTRODUCTION:

Catchy title. Greetings to all, and thank you for reading my blog. If you haven't subscribed, now is as good a time as ever. I respect your privacy and never share or sell my email lists.

For tonight's topic, I chose to discuss crime. Why? Don't you hear enough about it on the news? The answer is simple. Crime, as you know, is on the rise everywhere. Murders, muggings, looting, and many other crimes are increasing. The beautiful streets of numerous cities have turned into a nightmare. A nightmare that people who live in those cities are dealing with daily.

I've walked the streets of San Fransisco, San Diego, Chicago, and of course, New York. There was a time when they were beautiful. People did not fear for their safety. New York's Eastside, The Village, was where all types of talents performed. Many for free. Just for the chance to be heard. Downtown Manhatten, Broadway 5th. Avenue and many more areas flourished.

Growing up in Connecticut, I could leave my house and walk Manhattan's streets in 90 minutes. Like any major metropolitan city, the energy level was astounding. There were thousands of people on the streets. You felt alive. You felt the energy. I've been to New York countless times. I would go shopping, go to dinner and see a musical, a comedy club, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall during Christmas. When my children were old enough, they would sometimes come along.

You felt safe riding the subway or taking a cab. Police presence was abundantly present. Whether I drove, took the train, or sometimes a limo, the city made me feel special. To be this close to such a wonderful city, full of entertainment and opportunity, was amazing. You could walk the streets at any hour of the day or night. What happened to those days?

CRIME:

Crime is always present. Crime is not a new rodeo in our society. However, it has reached and exceeded dangerous levels. As time passed, many moved from being closer to the big cities to the suburbs because the suburbs were safer. The crime rate was dramatically lower, and the types of crimes committed were far less severe. Here is a link to some important data on crime rates by Macrotrends.

It's a bit scary, but it should be. For those of you that remember the series "Beretta, Robert Blake, R. I .P., was famous for this line.

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time", "You can take dat to da bank" and "And dat's the name of dat tune."

Interesting but true sayings. Crime isn't a new concept in society. As a society, we have been living with crime for centuries. However, not at its present level, nor with the preset level of violence. Crime in various forms is inevitable. The worst part of the crime scenario is the fewer deterrents we have, the higher the crime rates will climb. More on this later. There are many reasons why an individual chooses a life of crime. Here is an excellent article by Prison Fellowship. Here are just a few:

Antisocial values and beliefs,
Peers,
Environment,
Substance abuse,
Lack of employment.

There are many more. When it comes down to it, many types of crimes are caused by the times we live through. Allow me to take a moment to discuss one of these. Substance abuse. I choose this one because I have many years of experience dealing with these individuals. As a Paramedic for over 30 years in an innercity setting, many of our calls dealt with some form of substance abuse. In some cases, people wanted to get help and kick the habit. However, the system is overloaded and cannot adequately meet the needs of the demand.

There are many rehab programs for every type of substance abuse problem. However, getting into a program and getting clean only scratches the surface. After 90 days, they are released. Technically, from a medical standpoint, they are clean. However, what happens then? They go back to the same environment and possibly peers that put them there in the first place. Hence, the cycle repeats itself. In most cases, many times for the same individual.

We do not have the money or the full resources to combat this. To make matters worse, some cities make it easier for an addict to continue on their destructive path. Allowing people to camp out on the streets and providing them with the necessary means to continue their habits is not the answer to solving this crisis. And it is a crisis. A crisis that is killing more of our population each year. Are we helping these people, or are we part of the problem?

When an addict needs a fix, they will steal, sell their bodies, or do whatever it takes to get the money to buy what they need. What will these cities do next, supply the drugs as well? Supplying clean needles to help stop the spread of disease caused by sharing dirty needles solves one problem but creates another. No one can solve a problem by creating others along the way. Problems are solved by solving the original problem.

Over the years, many people have moved from the city to the suburbs to get their children away from this environment and into better schools. I can tell you firsthand that drugs are in the suburbs as well. The only difference is it is hidden and not out in the open. I've responded to many calls in wealthy neighborhoods and schools for overdose calls and drug kids. NO ONE IS IMMUNE to this crisis.

I stated in my opening remarks how beautiful our large cities used to be. Everyone watches the news. You all see the videos. The streets of these beautiful cities have turned to trash. Stores have closed or moved out. Others have placed all their goods behind locked barriers to stop thieves from coming in, taking what they want, and just walking out of the store.

That is a two-sided issue. It is prudent for any company to tell their employees NOT to try to stop them. No company wants the liability or wants to see its staff injured. Security guards let them pass by as they walk out the doors with their arms filled with stolen merchandise. How long can any company survive under those circumstances? We barely have enough police to patrol our streets, the subways of New York, or other transportation areas, let alone work at the doors of these stores.

Eventually, this type of crime will bleed into all areas if it is not stopped. The only areas where this occurs less frequently are cities that have NOT defunded the police and support law enforcement. Where law and order and punishment for committing a crime still exist. These large cities that do not prosecute and have no bail laws, release or not even arrest these individuals are insanity at best.

DETERRENTS:

In decades past, there were deterrents. That said, deterrents do not always work to decrease crime because criminals do not always know the penalties for their crimes. However, the data shows that police presence works.

However, criminals must know there is some form of punishment for the crime they commit, and if caught, it's more than just a slap on the hand. Criminology is a very in-depth subject. There are numerous conflicting schools of thought about what works and what does not. However, we do know that doing nothing will never work.

This is a complex and complicated subject because how and who determines the right punishment for the crime? The law sets the guidelines, but the judge determines the sentence, provided the criminal makes it to court. Should these more minor looting crimes be ignored? Aren't they significant enough to warrant some form of punishment?

Now comes the politics. Conservatives will think one way and liberals another. This baffles my mind. The concept of what is right and wrong should be something that everyone can agree upon. The data shows that sending people to prison reduces crime by 10-15%. Therefore, it is thought that sending everyone to prison doesn't always work as a deterrent. However, I believe that is a significant amount. Not all crimes merit a prison term. However, there must be some form of punishment. Any deterrent that reduces crimes is worth the effort. It is also thought that sending criminals to prison allows them to learn better criminal skills from incarcerated people. What do you believe?

So much of these thoughts revolve around politics and psychological mumbo jumbo. I believe that penalties for committing a crime are not severe enough to act as a deterrent. Yes, I do believe there are "career criminals." Those that use prison doors as a revolving door. Many feel more comfortable in prison since they have spent so much time there that the thought of returning to prison doesn't bother them. However, this type of criminal is an entirely different breed. These are what are termed career criminals.

I am referring to crimes we see almost daily on the news. The brutal attacks on innocent people walking the streets, the looting of stores, etc. These are the lesser crimes that the new way of thinking prosecutors choose not to prosecute. However, the individuals freely committing these crimes with no significant consequences will eventually escalate to more dangerous and severe crimes.

To escalate this problem further, and rightfully so, people do not want penal facilities built close to where they live and raise their children. Therefore, we do not have the facilities to prosecute and hold all these people who are caught. Some say build prisons on an island. New York has one such prison. Rikers Island. The plan to close it and build new prisons was delayed until 2027. Here is the official article on this. RIKERS ISLAND.

When it comes to prisons, we must now consider what is humane and what is not. No prisoner should ever be mistreated. They are there serving time for the crime they committed. Not to be abused. There are various levels of prisons.

Minimum security,
Low security,
Medium security,
High security,
Federal Correctional complexes,
Administrative security.

You can learn more about these classifications at the FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS website. As you can imagine, the subject gets quite complicated. However, prisoners have rights. They retain their basic rights.

Freedom of speech,
Freedom to practice their religion,
The right to access the courts and counsel.

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has a national prison project that fights to protect what our Constitution guarantees. Individuals who are incarcerated retain these basic rights.

IN CLOSING:

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." If there are no consequences or punishment, the crimes will never stop. With the many cuts to police departments and the push to defund the police in certain cities, which I DO NOT AGREE WITH, crime will only increase. A visible and abundant police presence is the best method to deter crime. We know this from the crime rates before the defund the police movement began as compared to now. Therefore, I ask you, "WHAT HAPPENED TO LAW AND ORDER?" You cannot blame the police. You must blame the leadership.

Some things, although politically driven, should not be about politics. Regardless of which side of the political debate you sit on, does not change RIGHT from WRONG. What is going on now in the political arena is a p perfect example. The sole individual with the right to declassify a document is the sitting President of the United States. All former Presidents have declassified documents they wanted to keep when they left office. This isn't a new rodeo, and one is reinventing the wheel.

However, what about former V.P. Pence, who publically admitted he had classified documents in his possession and turned them in? What about Hillary Clinton or President Biden? Before President Biden was President, he had classified documents from when he was a Senator. These individuals and probably more we don't know about have classified documents in their possession. This is not a judgment of these people. I am simply stating what is publically known and the facts as the proper authorities have investigated and reported them. No charges were filed.

Based on RIGHT and WRONG alone, how could they indict former President Trump and not the others for the same offense? And, is it the same offense since Trump claims he declassified these documents before leaving office? These actions are political justice, NOT law and order or right from wrong. That is a dual justice system that displays political bias. This is NOT what our nation stands for. We are NOT supposed to have these issues occurring in our justice system. These are the people our society has elected to office, and the individuals that those in office decided to place in these positions that make these decisions. Does that make you feel safe? Does that instill trust in our justice system? What happened to fair and equal justice? Although each crime stands on its own merits and must be judged separately, we are not talking about the same crime in all these cases. Unlike former President Trump, no individual known to have classified documents had the authority to have them in their possession or declassify them.

Do not misunderstand my closing statements. If a crime was committed, there must be consequences as the law dictates. However, it must be fair and equal and apply to all. Ladies and gentlemen, these are critical questions and choices we will all have to make in the future: the next election. Once anyone loses their sense of right from wrong, they become dangerous and ineffective at work. They become pawns of the system. Can they be trusted? I think not. Remember, this is NOT about TRUMP. It's about the basic principles of right and wrong. Equal justice for all. These are some concepts this great nation has always stood for and why we all choose to be citizens of this great nation.

The law should NEVER be manipulated for political reasons. The law applies to everyone, regardless of who they are. However, it needs to be administrated fairly and equally. Forget your political views for a moment and answer this question. Regarding this issue, is the law being administered fairly and equally? Without prejudice and bias?

How would you feel if this were happening to you? Yes, take it down to a personal level because it is personal, and maybe one day, it can happen to you for different reasons. When does this type of injustice stop? It stops when we elect the right people that will not fall prey to it and appoint people that will uphold our constitution and what this nation stands for. That is when it will stop. That is when you can feel safe. At the end of each day, it boils down to what is RIGHT from WRONG.

Please feel free to leave comments, or if you have a topic you would like me to discuss, you can email me at crondina@caesarrondinaauthor.com. Thank you.

Be safe, stay well, and focus on being happy. And remember to always: