The System Is Beyond Broken - And Response (5)

  • Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Re:  Police Blotter: Woman On Walmart Trespass List Is Back Again 

How is this individual still amongst the society’s general population ?  When I read these articles it tends to make my blood boil. 

“She was taken to the county jail on charges of theft under $500, criminal impersonation and criminal trespass. She was also wanted on several warrants from General Sessions Court and Criminal Court. 

Ms. McMath has been arrested some 20 times since 2010, including for attempted first-degree murder. That charge was dismissed, and she got a six-year suspended sentence for aggravated assault."

Our tax dollars from keeping this individual incarcerated will surely be offset by the resources and effort it takes to keep arresting her, not to mention continually tying up the courts' time.  Would society not be safer for everyone?  Is 20 times in five years not enough?  Is she that well behaved when incarcerated that she is let out for “good behavior” and that is why she is let back out on the streets so quickly?  Maybe somebody can shed some light on this for me as I am truly confused. 

Chris Morgan 

* * *  

A friend of mine who is a prosecutor told me that to get a person in jail, "..they almost have to break into jail to get in jail." 

Much legal proprietorial and prison services are tied up in areas that have nothing to do with crime. 

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department estimates that about 35 percent of the cell space is occupied by the severely and persistently mentally ill.  

And, the average census at MBMHI is about 250 beds, and those 250 beds are supposed to serve roughly half of Tennessee's population.  We have less public hospital beds in Tennessee than we did before the Civil War. 

Plus, a number of cell space is tied up with "victimless crimes" in our "war on drugs."  Many drugs should be treated like the legalized rec drug alcohol, where taxes can be collected to cover all of the problems those drugs cause. 

Steve Daugherty Sr.
Red Bank 

* * * 

Mr. Daugherty brings up a good point – the war on drugs in relation to occupied cell space.  

The legalization of marijuana has been debated ad nauseam, usually focusing on how harmful it actually is, or is not (it is a medical fact that it is less harmful than cigarettes, but I digress). One context in which I very seldom see it debated is in relation to the problems raised by Mr. Morgan and countless others on here and virtually every other public forum. Every time we read or hear about Joe the Criminal being arrested an absurd number of times and never receiving worse than a slap on the wrist, just know that a very, very, very big reason for that is because of the silly, debilitating criminalization of marijuana. As long as it is illegal, we can all bank on continuing to see reports of people being arrested 20, 30, 40, etc. times and still being allowed to gallivant around at the inevitable expense of others.  

Not that legalizing it would comprehensively correct the problem, but it would make a huge difference, a step toward actually making people pay for their crimes. 

Sam Horn 

* * * 

My son went to court for not moving over far enough on the interstate when a state patrol had another car pulled over. In court the judge was continuously telling all the repeat offenders, which many he knew well, to stop doing this or that and one case told the person to get their license updated and he would drop all charges. 

When my son finally came before the judge, all heck broke loose. The judge threw the book at him because he was dressed far better than what had been there before him. We ended up paying $200 court cost and he had to go to driving school, another $45. All the while the repeat offenders were having their cases dismissed. 

It is all about money. Ms. McMath probably has no money and therefore the courts know they will get nothing out of bringing her back in for more charges or making her pay any fees because she has nothing. So they let her go and it is a revolving door. 

Our system is broken and a joke. 

Eddie Griffith 

* * * 

I have been victimized by repeat offenders, twice in one week by a thief with a dozen crimes on his record.  The criminals know the system and use it to mock the court system.  Here's how it works: Bad guy gets caught, bonds out next day, a week later pleads not guilty, is bound over to grand jury.  Grand jury takes six months to hear the case, decides on true bill, court date is set a year later.  Bad guy is free this whole time to commit as many crimes as possible. If caught again, his public defender tells judge that he is already bound over to grand jury and gets to stay out of jail on same bond.  When bad guy is about to come to trial, he offers to plea guilty to jay walking if all the other cases are dismissed and he gets 30 day suspended.  So many criminals are walking the streets on multiple suspended sentences, it makes me question what the "suspended on good behavior" clause means. 

Don't take my word on this. Go to the Hamilton County website, click on courts, then sessions, then dispositions. Put in the name of any criminal in today's Chattanoogan and look at how many times the same person has been arrested.  You will also be redirected to Criminal Court, put the name in there and see have many suspended sentences have been doled out.  

The criminals are winning. Chattanooga is so crime infested that there is no way to try even 10 percent of the cases, and no jail space to lock them away. Honest citizens need to arm themselves and be prepared to do what the court system is powerless to do. 

Harry Presley
Chattanooga 

* * * 

I read this post at least a week ago and it’s bothered me ever since. I totally agree with everybody here. However, lest we point fingers solely at the indigent because this is all of our faults.  

I became incensed the other day when I learned through an attorney friend that the likely penance for a guy who admitted to an unconscionable act of violence would likely be a six month suspended sentence and counseling. He has money and a good lawyer. 

I also know a guy who got caught with a gram of weed in a Chattanooga suburb. He got six months of random drug testing and a year of probation. If he slipped up, he was told, it would be Silverdale. 

Come on man.  Even if the collar you sport is white, beating somebody up is off the charts worse than any marijuana charge of any scale.  Reefer is illegal and not good for you but it’s been proven over and over and over to be less evil than tobacco or liquor or being married and acting on that cutey pie in the nekked pants running down the street. If people love you and depend on you, these are criminal acts but they are all perfectly legal. 

I don’t know how many people are in jail for small time marijuana but if you can beat somebody up or steal and defraud 20 or 30 times and walk because you either have money or because the jails are full of guys who tried to peddle some reefer, yes, our system is whacked. Way whacked. 

Savage Glascock, Sr. 

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