My years in public service have helped me to understand the substantial power of public office. The ability to do good is commensurate with the ability to do harm to those we serve. Let me give one example.
Although Jeff Jones (not his real name) never graduated from high school, he was a good provider for his wife and four children. Due to his lack of education, he mostly worked in sales. At one point in 2005, Jeff worked for a mortgage broker during the real estate boom. The broker and an escrow officer decided that they would close escrows by funding the down payment on transactions from the loan proceeds. Jeff participated in a few of these escrows, but recognized that something was wrong. Confronting the broker, Jeff asked if this was illegal. He was told "Yes, technically - but everyone's doing it." Jeff's response was "Well, I can't," and he immediately gave two weeks' notice and quit. The mortgage broker and escrow agent continued their operation. Jeff obtained employment at a computer software company and went about his life.
About six months later, the FBI came to ask him about his dealings at his former company. Jeff told them everything. Later on Jeff was indicted for fraud along with the mortgage broker and the escrow officer. The result: The mortgage broker got nine months in prison, the escrow officer one day in jail, and Jeff received a sentence of five years. His family of now five children is receiving assistance from the state.
At his sentencing, Jeff had over 80 letters from neighbors, employers, and family attesting to his excellent character, that he was a good father and husband and a helpful neighbor. His employer at the time of sentencing wrote that he was a good employee and could continue his employment if he were not incarcerated.
Why did Jeff get such a raw deal? A subpar attorney, and the practice of offering the best plea to the first person that agrees to testify against everyone else.
This is an example of the waste resulting from our current system. Incarceration is frequently looked at as the default punishment. Jeff was never a physical threat to anyone. As such, other alternative punishments could have been employed. Jeff could have been given a substantial fine and the chance to continue employment to pay his fine and restitution. He could have been given community service. He could have continued to be a good father and husband, live in his community and provide for his family. Instead, prosecutors wanted their pound of flesh from the least culpable person that was indicted.
Our present system results in a waste of resources, both to the state and to the individual and to families. When taxes are used to incarcerate non-dangerous felons, resources are used which could be directed to more worthy causes. With a recidivism rate approaching 45 percent in our state, we must recognize that needlessly warehousing non-dangerous inmates is not only futile - it's senseless. And what does the future hold for five children growing up without a father
Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, represents District 18 at the Arizona Legislature.
Rich posted at 6:31 pm on Thu, Jan 5, 2012.
Cecil,
Many years ago I took a cruise on the Nile River. In one of the ruins there was a jail where the pharaoh incarcerated his 'lawbreakers.' If the technique worked, civilization would have been crime free for about the last 4000 years. The law is majestic in it's equality, it prevents both the rich and the poor from stealing bread. No one man alive understands all the laws on the books, we employ liars to find the truth by arguing their lies. Nothing about it is honest or fair. As you said:"My years in public service have helped me to understand the substantial power of public office. The ability to do good is commensurate with the ability to do harm to those we serve." Having lived through your years of 'public service' I have to ask, when do you start on the 'ability to do good' part?
samkat posted at 8:55 pm on Thu, Jan 5, 2012.
Cecil: The real dilemma is in preventing people like Jeff from being victimized when they were minor players. We won't worry about what happened 4,000 years ago but rather concentrate on today's environment.
Now, I hope your proposal does not let bad guys out early to simply do more damage.
ronenger posted at 12:43 am on Fri, Jan 6, 2012.
To find a great refinance rate, you should talk to at least one national mortgage lender, one local lender, a credit union and 123 Refinance. Also ask your friends which bankers and brokers they have used.
JBdJM posted at 1:04 pm on Fri, Jan 6, 2012.
I used to think that people are innocent until proven guilty, and was optimistic that people are convicted based on genuine evidence. Let me share a story of a friend's trauma, I will call him John (not his real name, but true story).
John married a single mother who has a son. He had a good relationship with the boy, who had none with his biological father. When the boy was 6, the couple had a baby together--and the father was soooo excited. He even insisted on doing all the bottle feedings! When the boy was about 6 months old, both father and baby got terrible colds. The baby was very congested, and the doctor said have him sleep in his car seat so he can breathe easier. Even though John was sick, he was doing laundry while his son was sleeping in his car seat on the coffee table, and as he walked into the living room with a load to fold, he saw that his son was blue. He yelled to his other son to call 911 because his brother wasn't breathing, and proceeded to do CPR. Thankfully the baby started breathing and started crying, which was recorded on the 911 call. The ambulance came, but the family dog was in protective mode, so they told the father to bring the crying baby outside and hand it to them over the fence, which he did. John ran back in, shut the dog in a bedroom, and ran out the front door, and his baby was on the ground with the medic doing cpr on him. He said, why don't you transport him to the hospital and do cpr along the way? He told him to stand back. He watched him do this for 20 minutes, then ran in and called the police in his frustration that they weren't taking his son to the hospital. Bottom line? The child had died, and John was accused of child abuse! The autopsy showed the medic had mistakenly injected the baby with morphine, and it was a lethal dose for a baby. John has no criminal history, never a child abuse complaint, his other son was there and knew the baby was sleeping, the 911 tape had the baby crying, so obviously he was breathing and alive. They offered him a plea bargain of 15 yrs, which he refused because he was innocent. He could not afford a good lawyer, and his did a poor job defending him. The medic that injected the child with the lethal morphine swore the child was all ready dead when he got him. (If he didn't claim that, he would have been held responsible! His boss, a friend of ours admitted to us that he was careless with his responsibilities.) The public defender was very theatrically convincing that John was a cold hearted evil killer. It was so manipulative and wrong! His employer, family, friends all attested to his good character, and love of children. John and his wife had another baby before he was sentenced. He was sentenced to 25 yrs. So now 2 children live without a father, and the mother works hard to be the provider, spending her weekends driving 100's so she and their sons can see their Dad. He has tried appeals, but is limited to what the first lawyer did in the original trial. And we the taxpayers are paying for housing an innocent man who would rather be an at home father, working and contributing to society!
Rich posted at 1:38 pm on Fri, Jan 6, 2012.
About all you see here is the fact that giving people like Cecil "The ability to do good (sic) commensurate with the ability to do harm to those we serve." Isn't working. You're a potential victim. The problem is that government has this kind of power. That prosecutors are judged by 'conviction rates' rather than finding out the truth. The stories above aren't isolated, they are typical. The government messes up, you pay, because they have neither the class nor the grace to admit they were wrong. How many people have been freed because DNA evidence exonerated them? How many should be? It's about inflated egos and too much power. What needs to be done about it is to deflate the egos and reduce the power and never again have anyone be able to say, with any truth that they have "The ability to do good (sic) commensurate with the ability to do harm to those we serve." One harm should be all they are allowed and that should be punished with a loss of voting rights.
Uma posted at 4:50 am on Wed, Jan 11, 2012.
Unfortunately, the stories like this happen very often in our country, called “the heart of democracy”. Independent individuals acting like Jeff look very dangerous in the eyes of authorities. So, they prefer to keep them “under control” e.g. in prison…..It’s upsetting that the middle-class people are now left behind, salaries don't grow and debts become more difficult to pay. But there are still paycheck loans that they can use to stay afloat.