by Diane on March 28, 2011
Abused Women Must Speak Out & Get Out
Oh boy, am I ever going to take heat for this. But it must be said.
There are some women caught up in the awful throes of domestic abuse who are to blame. Domestic abuse occurs because they allow it.
The women of whom I speak stay when they should leave. They repeatedly call police to come to their rescue after their partner’s anger erupts. Then, they repeatedly refuse to press charges. These abused and humiliated women forget the panic they felt at the moment they scrambled to the phone and dialed 9-11 for help. They imagine they can’t possibly make it in life without their abusive mate. They’re caught in a terrible cycle of co-dependent violence. [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 14, 2011
Time to Re-Think?
I
’m against the death penalty.
Until I’m not.
Mention a criminal who has sexually abused or murdered a child and I waver. Show me a terrorist who wants to kill Americans because we don’t share his religion and I vacillate. Catch a stone cold cop killer and I think if we don’t punish the murderer to the fullest we allow the very fabric of our nation’s security to unravel.
Yet, with all that said, there seems to be a built in contradiction to killing a killer, don’t you think? [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 7, 2011
Prisoners Committing Tax Fraud - To the Tune of Multiple Millions!
At prisons across the country all incoming mail is opened and checked for contraband before the prisoner ever receives it. What would be considered mail tampering on the outside is standard operating procedure in a prison.
Amazingly, however, outgoing prison mail is mostly just bundled up and shipped out via the U.S. Postal Service with no inspection. The only exception is if a particular prisoner is under suspicion for some sort of criminal activity.
That’s a shame because this failure to monitor mail is the first weak link in a chain of inmate tax fraud that’s been going on for years, according to government investigators. In just the 2009 tax year, for example, prisoner inspired IRS fraud cost you, me and every other taxpaying American at least 39 million dollars. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 14, 2011
Teen Killers - Some Deserve Life W/O Parole
I goofed. I thought I had researched it thoroughly enough but the response to my last column showed me I did not. Consider this my mea culpa.
The column was about the number of juveniles we sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) on charges of murder or accessory to murder. I quoted a Human Rights Watch report that placed the number of “children” sentenced to LWOP at 2,574. I questioned how America’s international stance on human rights squared with our “routinely toss(ing) kids” into prison for the rest of the lives.
As comments to the column rolled in I realized I had only written one side of the story. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 7, 2011
America Locks Up Children Forever
Quick, a question: What does the United States of America have in common with the African nation of Somalia?
Answer: They are the only countries to refuse to sign Article 37 of the 1989 UN document entitled, “Rights of the Child.”
What’s that mean? Translated, it means America stands shoulder-to -shoulder with a primitive east African nation in routinely refusing to acknowledge the rights of children. And, America is also the only known nation in the world that allows children under the age of 18 to be tried as adults and sentenced to prison forever – with absolutely no chance for parole. In a majority of U.S. cases the child is charged with murder but sometimes they have simply been in the company of someone else who committed murder.
Hey, wait a minute! [click to continue…]
by Diane on January 31, 2011
State of President Obama's Union, 2011
One of the primary functions of government is to keep us safe – not only from foreign enemies but from fellow citizens who’ve turned to crime. We function best when we feel safe and secure in the world. It allows us to unlock our creative minds, produce more and better work and give back to society in the most positive ways.
So, as I watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech I listened carefully for what he would say that would address American’s concerns about crime and justice and help us feel safer. After all, consider recent events. Shortly before the speech, in states across the nation, eleven police officers had been killed in the line of duty in a 24 period. And the country is still reeling from the shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona that left 6 people dead and 14 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
I was disappointed with the speech. [click to continue…]
by Diane on January 10, 2011
Jaime and Gladys Scott Breathing Free Air Again
Over the years there have been torrents of tears, rejected legal appeals, heartfelt rallies and now after nearly 17 long years there is finally clemency for Gladys and Jamie Scott. It’s a case that has had injustice written all over it from the get go.
The Scott sister’s 1994 conviction came on a crime they insist they played no part in – an armed robbery in which no one was hurt and about eleven dollars was stolen. Testimony at trial was completely contradictory and in later years witnesses admitted they’d committed perjury.
On Friday, January 7th, 2011 Gladys and Jamie jubilantly left the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility yelling, “We’re free!” and “God bless y’all!” They moved immediately to Pensacola, Florida to start their new lives. [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 27, 2010
A Gift for All - Immigration Reform
Everyone – especially young people – wants that one special gift for Christmas. Well, this year there’s a group of kids that will remember the holiday as disappointing after the sins of their parents came back to haunt them. All these kids really wanted for Christmas was a helping hand onto the road to U.S. citizenship.
Their parents brought them to this country illegally, some of them as tiny infants, and although raised here in the United States of America – knowing loyalty to no other country but this one – they’ve been told their American dream stops now.
Our procrastinating Congress ended the first half of its 111th session by once again failing to pass the so-called Dream Act. The act could have become the first brave and concrete step on the arduous road to immigration reform. [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 20, 2010
Marijuana as Cure - Not Crime
In November 2007 Steele Smith and his wife Theresa were arrested by federal DEA agents in Orange County, California for cultivating and selling marijuana. But the Smith’s aren’t your run of the mill drug dealers and the federal government has left them in legal limbo ever since.
The backstory: In the summer of 2001 Steele was a successful self-employed marketing man who was felled by a gut-wrenching mystery illness. He couldn’t eat and quickly dropped forty pounds from his already thin 6 foot 7 inch frame. His doctors were stymied about what caused the debilitating condition. After four excruciating months a rare-disease specialist diagnosed a condition called Zollinger-Ellison syndrome which pockmarks a victim’s upper gastrointestinal tract with multiple, painful ulcers. Morphine was prescribed for Steele’s constant pain and he lived in that legally induced drug dependent state for the next three years eventually becoming an opiate addict.
[click to continue…]
by Diane on December 6, 2010
How Many Brides Gets You Arrested?
Laws are laws. You follow them and there’s no problem. You break the law and you’ll likely go to jail. Well…not so fast. Some laws are selectively enforced even after a suspect admits felonious wrongdoings on national television. A prime example concerns the state of Utah and its law against polygamy.
Even though Utah has one of the broadest laws against plural marriage, there are more than 20 thousand mostly secretive polygamist households tucked away in enclaves all over the sparsely populated state. Some are disheveled, disorganized compounds with poor sanitation, access to stores, health care and organized education. Other polygamists maintain their lifestyle in well heeled homes with plenty of amenities. [click to continue…]
