(no subject)
went to my brother's sentencing today for his dui/driving on suspended (habitual offender) and violation of bond agreement (again, dui/driving on suspended).
he was sentenced to three years jail time w/ two years of "monitored confinement" which I am taking to mean good ol' house-arrest.
you could say he got what he asked for, in that he definitely knew this was going to happen, and he was actually told the last time he got off that if he was caught driving again it'd be five years. so yeah, you do what you're gonna do and then you pay your dues or whatever. additionally, pretty much everyone involved in the situation agrees that things are better around here with him locked up. his wife's happier, his dog's happier, and his kids are certainly better off without a drunk cursing violent dad around as their only male role-model.
still though, it's a sad day. the only thing I can really say in his "defense" (not really) is that prison never helped anybody and that's a pretty immutable truth. I am not sure what would help him, but I am sure that prison is not the answer. it seems so ridiculous to me that our idea of crime deterrence and of governmental retribution is to lock you in a box for a certain amount of time and that's expected to make you not want to "do some crimes*" again. JT suggested that we should go back to using stocks and I think I might agree with that on a certain level. maybe the fear of public humiliation and sunburn and bruises from chucked fruit would work better than the fear of confinement. I don't have any answers as far as this goes, but I do know that our prison system is FUCKED UP and just keeps getting moreso. what to do what to do.....
that's all I got to say on that. y'all stay safe.
-jay.
*-Repo Man
he was sentenced to three years jail time w/ two years of "monitored confinement" which I am taking to mean good ol' house-arrest.
you could say he got what he asked for, in that he definitely knew this was going to happen, and he was actually told the last time he got off that if he was caught driving again it'd be five years. so yeah, you do what you're gonna do and then you pay your dues or whatever. additionally, pretty much everyone involved in the situation agrees that things are better around here with him locked up. his wife's happier, his dog's happier, and his kids are certainly better off without a drunk cursing violent dad around as their only male role-model.
still though, it's a sad day. the only thing I can really say in his "defense" (not really) is that prison never helped anybody and that's a pretty immutable truth. I am not sure what would help him, but I am sure that prison is not the answer. it seems so ridiculous to me that our idea of crime deterrence and of governmental retribution is to lock you in a box for a certain amount of time and that's expected to make you not want to "do some crimes*" again. JT suggested that we should go back to using stocks and I think I might agree with that on a certain level. maybe the fear of public humiliation and sunburn and bruises from chucked fruit would work better than the fear of confinement. I don't have any answers as far as this goes, but I do know that our prison system is FUCKED UP and just keeps getting moreso. what to do what to do.....
that's all I got to say on that. y'all stay safe.
-jay.
*-Repo Man