Local News Got Me Upsegt

[mikex]

<RANT>On our local news they were giving updates on Sexual Predators. They spoke of like 4 people. I changed channels and a few more there. Then in North Louisiana kids in the fifth grade were having sex in the class room while it was unattended. What the hell is this world coming to.

Parents need to be parents.

Teachers need to teach, not babysit.

Child molestors need to die.

Killers need to die.

If someone is sorry for their crimes then they will make amends with their maker. Saying how sorry you are on nation TV will get you about the same amount of respect that I give to the 100+ people who say I won the lotto every day. NONE.

There are too many people in prison waiting to die. We as a nation are coloring more and more of our laws in to gray areas. Black and White law is just that. If people fear the punishment then there will likely be a downward trend to the crime.

Mayor of New Orleans wanted his city to be "Chocolate" now he wants federal help with the crime. 50 homicides so far this year. Not saying it was black people killing but, those doing the killing are trash to society as a whole.

</RANT>

Sorry....had to.

M

[JDoors]

... Hell in a handbasket?

Every generation says the same thing though, so try to stay optimistic. There are a lot of good things happening too, it just doesn't sell the toothpaste.

[mikex]

I understand....bad news sells.

Show a cute puppy no one will stop to look.

Kill this cute puppy and watch as the crowd gathers.....

Just had to vent earlier.....

[garmanma]

I find it sadly amusing that when a celeb. or political big shot get in trouble the first thing they do is get a lawyer and check into rehab. Most times, before they even go in front of a judge. If that were you or me, we'd be in the slammer.

Mark

[Pete_C]

<RANT>On our local news they were giving updates on Sexual Predators. They spoke of like 4 people. I changed channels and a few more there. Then in North Louisiana kids in the fifth grade were having sex in the class room while it was unattended. What the hell is this world coming to.

Parents need to be parents.

Teachers need to teach, not babysit.

Child molestors need to die.

Killers need to die.

If someone is sorry for their crimes then they will make amends with their maker. Saying how sorry you are on nation TV will get you about the same amount of respect that I give to the 100+ people who say I won the lotto every day. NONE.

There are too many people in prison waiting to die. We as a nation are coloring more and more of our laws in to gray areas. Black and White law is just that. If people fear the punishment then there will likely be a downward trend to the crime.

Mayor of New Orleans wanted his city to be "Chocolate" now he wants federal help with the crime. 50 homicides so far this year. Not saying it was black people killing but, those doing the killing are trash to society as a whole.

</RANT>

Sorry....had to.

M

Well, on the one hand, larger populations and denser habitation mean that there are more sociapaths and that they have greater opportunity; also I wouldn't be surprised if overcrowding is as detrimental to peaceful human social interaction as it is to laboratory rats.

However I think a great part of this is the yellow journalism and political in nature. What I mean by this is that alarmist shocking news stories sell while reporting the facts as they are does not; and politicians and law enforcement want to focus on problems they can appear to be making an impact on.

In past years, rape, incest, molestation and a whole lot of other things resulted in a quick trip to the electric chair with no time for an appeal. But after the supreme court ruled that this was not equitable punishment and reversed many death penalty laws as unconstitutional; most states realized that they had to be careful or they would quickly fill their limited prison space and often this would result in release of those who had served longest; not those who posed least threat to society.

Top this off with federally mandated minimum sentences for things like drug possession offenses and the increased cost of prosecuting a case (scientific tests, expert testimony, specialized defense lawyers instead of public defenders ) and the result was that many criminals manage to plea down to a lesser crime and time served to get probation.

So, now we have politicians passing laws without thought of consequences ( I read in the newspaper that in some Florida town, there was a camp of sex offenders living under a bridge because that was the only place in town that was not "off limits" for them to reside and the state mandated that they serve out their parole in the town they resided in when they were charged with the crime. ). You have all "Sex offenders" lumped together regardless of their future threat to society or children.

Then you get these investigative journalists setting up "predators" because it gets good ratings and draws viewers . Yes, I know the pervert deserves to get caught; but I always wonder how many of them actually have committed or even considered committing such a crime before they were lured by the bait and carefully scripting and expert at entrapment which the show has set up.

This brings up the technology aspect. Stuff we would never have heard of before are spread at lightning speed and repeated ad nauseum before the butter melts on the bread. You change stations and they are repeating what you just saw on the other one.

Yes, society does need to be made safer and with increasing population and increasing density it is an increasing problem ; but rather than generalizations and jumping to a kneejerk reaction careful thought is called for. In the last year here in Dallas, 13 convicted "rapists" have been exonerated through DNA evidence. One guy was arrested and convicted of gang rape because another "suspect" provided a name for his companion. The victim identified him. Only problem was he was the wrong guy; right name, but the wrong guy, they should have arrested another man with the same name who lived across town. Now if he had been given the death penalty rather than life he would never have had a chance to prove that they had messed up.

Recently a school cafeteria worker in Plano was arrested at school, fired and banned from campus because the police had a warrant for her arrest for selling drugs. Unfortunately they failed to realize that although the name matched the age and physical description did not. Even after spending days in jail and getting an attorney to get her out and finally convincing them they had the wrong person; she couldn't get her job back because she had been arrested for dealing drugs and the school district has a zero tolerance policy for drug offenses.

I can see many ways in which any generalizing zero tolerance policy can go awry.

[irregularjoe]

<RANT>On our local news they were giving updates on Sexual Predators. They spoke of like 4 people. I changed channels and a few more there. Then in North Louisiana kids in the fifth grade were having sex in the class room while it was unattended. What the hell is this world coming to.

Parents need to be parents.

Teachers need to teach, not babysit.

Child molestors need to die.

Killers need to die.

If someone is sorry for their crimes then they will make amends with their maker. Saying how sorry you are on nation TV will get you about the same amount of respect that I give to the 100+ people who say I won the lotto every day. NONE.

There are too many people in prison waiting to die. We as a nation are coloring more and more of our laws in to gray areas. Black and White law is just that. If people fear the punishment then there will likely be a downward trend to the crime.

Mayor of New Orleans wanted his city to be "Chocolate" now he wants federal help with the crime. 50 homicides so far this year. Not saying it was black people killing but, those doing the killing are trash to society as a whole.

</RANT>

Sorry....had to.

M

Two words come to thought.

DUE PROCESS.

Chill out my friend.

Edited April 12, 2007 by irregularjoe

[Potato2k4]

Half (or more) of the problem with this crap IS the media.

Humans are very monkey-see-monkey-do.

You put crap on tv, society idolizes it...

its 'cool' to be ignorant, violent, and fail

why? because that's who's on TV... (take a look at MTV)

"GG" society.

[mikex]

Joe you are right Due Process. We as humans need to be responsible for our actions. We know right from wrong. And the legal system gives us they gray area to find an excuse for what we did, or a reason to blame our upbringing.

The population for the whole area where I live is not enough to populate a mid sized city. I guess that makes it more upsetting. It is coming in our "backyard".

I am thankful 90% of the population of my town knows me either by name or in passing. It is nice to know my kids can knock on virtually any door in town and tell the person who their parents or grandparents are and they will help as needed.

M