Editorial

Nonviolent crime

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A get-tough approach on nonviolent crime isn't working, says Missouri Chief Justice William Ray Price. Instead, it is costing taxpayers billions of dollars without decreasing such crimes.

Instead of spending more and more state dollars of prisons, prison payrolls and other prison-related costs, the state should look at alternative ways of dealing with nonviolent offenders, Price said in the annual State of the Judiciary message to the Missouri Legislature.

Price cited special courts for drug-related and drinking offenses that emphasize rehabilitation, which would cut down on the recidivism rate for such crimes.

Making a huge shift in how Missouri addresses these problems would require, among other things, new laws. State Rep. Scott Lipke of Jackson, chairman of the House Crime Prevention Committee, is among those legislators who agree that rehabilitation is a key to lowering the costly demands on the prison system.

Price's remarks indicate a significant shift in thinking. Five years ago he turned down an offer to expand the budget for special courts for drug offenses and drunken driving. Now he says that was a mistake.

Finding alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenses seems to make good sense. The chief justice's ideas merit serious legislative consideration.

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for god sakes NO! taking away the punishments for nonviolent criminals is BAD!!!! have you all been dropped on your heads up there in your offices???

Now im going to put this side of picture down so you can see what will happen!!! i am a previous drug addict( clean for three years now) and this is what a crackhead or worse will see verses a closed pin... they will increase crime due to the fact of " well worst they can do is put me in rehab awhile" or " i aint worried, its just rehab!" this is what a criminal will consider before doing it! no matter what the circumstances are always put the criminals in prison no matter if they violent or not!!! if they chose to do the crime then they do the time!!! trust me, coming from the point of view of a previous drug offender, i would be more concerned with getting arrested again than and woulda been much less concerned about the punishment if i had known that it woulda been goin to rehab... would i like rehab?? NO if it was a choice between punishment of two years in jail verses six mths of rehab??? of course rehab! but still think jail is fair punishment and should never be downsized like that!!!

-- Posted by Commonsense2010 on Tue, Feb 16, 2010, at 4:50 AM
No victim, no crime.

-- Posted by Lumpy on Tue, Feb 16, 2010, at 6:29 AM
At last, some of our politicians are getting it. As of the last time I checked, 36% of Missouri's prison cells were occupied by these non-violent drug offenders and most are for possession of marijuana. The "tough on crime" approach has done nothing except fill our prisons, waste tax dollars, and rip apart families while doing nothing to reduce consumption.

-- Posted by non-biasedphilosopher on Tue, Feb 16, 2010, at 9:28 AM

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