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This article has originally been posted in December 29. 2002, issue of the Alamance Independent
LAW ENFORCEMENT ON A BUDGET (THANK GOD THERE'S SECOND AMENDMENT)
By Mark Andrew Dwyer
According to internal documents obtained by the Mercury News ("Even state's prisons may feel budget crunch" by Mark Gladstone, Dec. 26, 2002), " as California's budget woes have escalated, state prison officials quietly have been studying a range of options to save hundreds of millions of dollars, including releasing non-violent inmates, delaying the opening of a maximum security lockup and early discharge from parole."
"Kentucky has gone so far as to release some prisoners early. Other states are slowing down prosecutions, because there is no room in the courts or the prisons." reports The Christian Science Monitor ("Deepest state deficits in 50 years" by Linda Feldmann and Liz Marlantes, Dec. 27, 2002).
This is what you can expect from your state government in lean times when your safety is at stake. Never mind they told you to never take "the law in your hands" while protecting yourself and those you love. Never mind that out of the three parties involved in a crime: the police, the victim, and the perpetrator, the police arrives to the crime scene last and usually when it's too late to apprehend the criminal. Never mind that improperly collected evidence, some other technicalities, and a slick attorney may get the perpetrator of the hook. Now, they are about to let some of those criminals whom they managed to catch, prosecute, and convict out of state jails. To save money, as they say. After all, this is not their safety that it's at stake. I tell you, you would be really naive if you trusted them and bought their advice: "leave the law enforcement to professionals".
Interestingly enough, no one seems to even consider a reduction of dollars spent per inmate or to have those who serve time contribute to the cost of their incarceration. Why the taxpayers and not the convicts have to pick up the tab? If the students in state colleges are required to pay tuition, the inmates should pay their "rent" as well to cover the cost of bed and board, as well as other expenses, except for the most rudimentary services. And what about deporting all criminal aliens? Reportedly, they are overrepresented by a margin of two to one in American jails, so it should be quite a money saving enterprise if they were sent straight from state jails to were they came from.
Letting criminals out of jails goes very well together with letting illegal "immigrants" into the U.S., and the flimsy excuse is the same for both: a cost-effective amnesty. Some state governments will prosecute and punish fewer criminals because it costs less. Similarly, the federal government will tolerate 10 million illegal aliens in the U.S. and look the other way when thousands on new ones are coming each day because it pays to keep things that way, or so they say. Although they claim that they will let only the "good guys" out ("in", in the case of illegal "immigrants"), the damage to this nation of laws is going to be irreparable. There is no way, at least not for a government bureaucrat bond with "non-discriminatory" rules, to tell the harmless convict from the dangerous one, as the Feds have no way of knowing whom they are letting into the U.S. by not enforcing the American borders.
Based on those similarities its is not unreasonable to expect that all the B.S. that Americans are fed with regarding illegal "immigration" is going to be re-used by the advocates of the open state jail gates idea. Like that the released convicts and non-prosecuted criminals will contribute to American economy by performing jobs non-criminal Americans will not do. Or that not welcoming them in communities would be a symptom of racism and xenophobia. Some civil rights organizations will see to it that human rights of criminals and parolees are not violated when they are released back to the society, as much as they fight for the "constitutional" rights of illegal border crossers. And it's only a matter of time before someone proposes improving jail conditions to the point that will make the convicts serve time voluntarily, thus making all expenditures on fences and jail guards unnecessary.
The federal government deserves an equal trust with enforcing national borders as state governments with incarceration of criminals: they do it as long as it's convenient, but it becomes a low priority when the budget is tough. In times like that we realize how vital the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is for the freedom of this country and for the safety of its citizens. Our governments have failed again to do their job. Thanks God there is Second Amendment.
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