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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Bastille mentality alive and well in USA
Message-ID: <1082@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 08:28:17 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.1082
Posted: Wed Nov 28 08:28:17 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Nov-84 05:19:48 EST
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Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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My God, Sevener is certainly naive concerning criminal justice and
the law.  He tries to make the point that only a very few criminals
are released to once again terrorize the local populace.  Now I know
that Sevener lives, or at least works in Monmouth County, N. J., less
than 60 miles from the heart of Manhatten.  There are newspapers published
every day in this area and I wonder if Mr. Sevener has been reading any of
them.  Just for starters, the papers featured an incident that was
going on over the past three months that tends to blow holes
in Sevener's theory.  

The courts in New York City have a backlog of over 30,000 outstanding
warrents for persons who have not bothered to show up in court, having
been released from an earlier arrest.  The incident involved the local
powers that be trying to round up some of those wayward suspects.  A scam
was set up to intice some of them out of their lairs.  This involved sending
them letters to tell them they had won a prize and that a Limo would be 
around to take them to prize headquarters.  You can guess where they ended
up.  There were several other amussing scams used, but the point is is
that over 3000 of these characters were apprehended.  Now, what happened
next?  Pay attention Sevener.  According to the Manhatten and Bronx DAs
offices, over 1500 of these people were back on the street within 24
hours.  Within 48 hours, over 2200 were out on the street.

Getting to the nitty grittty, the roundup was targeted at the worst offenders.
That is, rapists, child molesters, murderers (yes they can get low bail
in New York), repeat offenders, and others with serious crimes.  All of
these people had been let out of the justice net before.  Many of them
had committed further crimes while out, yet, here they are again, free
to repeat their madness on society once again.  Is this justice?  Sure,
the offenders may have been given a liberal dose of what passes for
justice, they were detained for a couple of days.  But, what about
justice for those that have to endure the crimes being committed by
these people?  What kind of justice is it that puts these slim-balls
back on the street to once more prey on the rest of us?

Your wrong Sevener, the criminal justice system in this area is lacking
in the ability to balance the rights of criminals with the rights of
victims.  The scales are too heavily weighted in favor of the criminal.
I am not arguing the merits of the death penalty here, though I lean
in that direction for certain cases.  I am just saying that your naive
understanding of what criminal justice is all about is enough to
gag a maggot.  By the way, Sevener, around 20 of those rounded up
are from Monmouth County.  Do you think you can sleep well knowing
that there are some 20 odd people with serious crimes on their
rap sheet prowling around the area?
T. C. Wheeler