Provide effective earned incentives that will reduce legal sanctions

By David H. Kerr                 

The article below from the National Consumer Law Center accurately describes what has become a “two tier system” of criminal justice.  Here is a summary paragraph of what they are saying:

“Across the country, onerous fines and fees pose a fundamental challenge to a fair and effective criminal justice system. By disproportionately burdening poor people with financial sanctions, and by jailing people who lack the means to pay, many jurisdictions have created a two-tiered system of criminal justice. Unchecked, these policies drive mass incarceration. Excessive fees and fines needlessly enmesh poor people in the criminal justice system by spawning arrests, court proceedings, periods of incarceration, and other modes of supervision for those who lack the ability to pay. Criminal justice debt also contributes to mass incarceration….”  From the National Consumer Law Center.  See complete article below.

The article below makes its point and ironically, some of the tactics now used to exact justice are contributing to more crime and more incarceration.  In short, we’re trying to “drum it out of them” and it’s not working.  Some believe that if they don’t comply with the law, we should fine them and incarcerate them more and more. 

From my experience, this personal debt is a byproduct of many issues:

a childhood of poverty, street fights, accelerating arrests and punishment, negative “street role models,” available drugs, joining the lucrative drug trafficking business, yearning to be a high level criminal and “street boss,” poor hygiene and lack of healthy living habits. 

Promising children from “the hood” often learn how to survive and gain respect in a negative street culture, and they soon adopt the criminal lifestyle.  Jail and prison are almost inevitable and in fact can be interpreted and recognized in “the hood” as an earned badge of toughness and respect.

We all must respect the rule of law but it’s pretty obvious that many don’t and this has presented a problem and cost to society for hundreds of years.  To help hardcore criminals; prisoners and addicts and law breakers, we have to understand them and listen to what they say about the system and our “rule of law.”  They often break the law as part of their own survival and all too often for street recognition.  If our “rule of law” interferes with their ability to survive and be recognized, then there will never be any significant change in crime rate and the associated costs such as probation, parole, prison and many others.  It’s almost like we’re trying to teach them English and they only understand “street.”  We won’t understand them and they won’t understand us. 

They must have an incentive that motivates them and here’s my idea of what that might  be: 

 Offer earned time off of imposed legal sanctions for those who participate in activities that contribute to their own personal improvement and that of others.

From my experience, the key incentive for a criminal and/or criminal addict is “what’s in it for me.”  Well, what can we do with that statement?  The answer is everything!  Create a system where an inmate can earn time offfrom his/her prison sentence, and/or parole or probation, and things will likely improve.

When an addict with a criminal justice history is arrested for a crime related to drugs for example, there should be an option to establish and regularly use critically helpful community agency help.  To the extent that this help promotes treatment, clean and sober living and the start of a new positive drug free lifestyle, legally mandated time on probation or in prison or on parole might be reduced.  The key is that the sustained & validated good behavior, employment, clean urines and good reports from the family, would have a major impact on reducing legal sanctions i.e. probation time, prison time and/or parole time.  The recovering addict or former criminal will feel the pride in that he or she was finally responsible for something good happening to him/her.  The experience of sustained “right living” and associated family and legal affirmation and recognition, has for years been the catalyst for lasting change.  It’s real and it’s earned and I’ve seen this happen hundreds of times in my 50 years of experience working with criminal and/or delinquent addicts.

We might want to rebuild our criminal justice system to allow for criminals to work off any and all sanctions associated with their arrest.  This idea is different than the drug court model for example in that there will be no automatic court ordered reduction of sentence.  Instead, all legal court ordered punishment will be subject to reduction based on the efforts of the inmate, probationer or parolee.  This system should be allowed for all former criminals, no matter what their crime.

The article below from the National Consumer Law Center accurately describes what has become a "two tier system" of criminal justice.  Here is a summary paragraph of what they are saying:

 "Across the country, onerous fines and fees pose a fundamental challenge to a fair and effective criminal justice system. By disproportionately burdening poor people with financial sanctions, and by jailing people who lack the means to pay, many jurisdictions have created a two-tiered system of criminal justice. Unchecked, these policies drive mass incarceration. Excessive fees and fines needlessly enmesh poor people in the criminal justice system by spawning arrests, court proceedings, periods of incarceration, and other modes of supervision for those who lack the ability to pay. Criminal justice debt also contributes to mass incarceration...."  From the National Consumer Law Center.  See complete article below.

The article below makes its point and ironically, some of the tactics now used to exact justice are contributing to more crime and more incarceration.  In short, we're trying to "drum it out of them" and it's not working.  Some believe that if they don't comply with the law, we should fine them and incarcerate them more and more. 

From my experience, this personal debt is a byproduct of many issues:

a childhood of poverty, street fights, accelerating arrests and punishment, negative "street role models," available drugs, joining the lucrative drug trafficking business, yearning to be a high level criminal and "street boss," poor hygiene and lack of healthy living habits. 

Promising children from "the hood" often learn how to survive and gain respect in a negative street culture, and they soon adopt the criminal lifestyle.  Jail and prison are  almost inevitable and in fact can be interpreted and recognized in "the hood" as an earned badge of toughness and respect.

We all must respect the rule of law but it's pretty obvious that many don't and this has presented a problem and cost to society for hundreds of years.  To help hardcore criminals; prisoners and addicts and law breakers, we have to understand them and listen to what they say about the system and our "rule of law."  They often break the law as part of their own survival and all too often for street recognition.  If our "rule of law" interferes with their ability to survive and be recognized, then there will never be any significant change in crime rate and the associated costs such as probation, parole, prison and many others.  It's almost like we're trying to teach them English and they only understand "street."  We won't understand them and they won't understand us. 

They must have an incentive that motivates them and here's my idea of what that might be:

Offer earned time off of imposed legal sanctions for those who participate in activities that contribute to their own personal improvement and that of others.

From my experience, the key incentive for a criminal and/or delinquent addict is "what's in it for me."  Well, what can we do with that statement?  The answer is everything!  Create a system where an inmate can earn time off from his/her prison sentence, and/or parole or probation, and things will likely improve.  This type of system will also significantly safe tax dollars.

When an addict with a criminal justice history is arrested for a crime related to drugs for example, there should be an option to establish and regularly use critically helpful community agency help.  To the extent that this help promotes treatment, clean and sober living and the start of a new positive drug free lifestyle, legally mandated time on probation or in prison or on parole might be reduced. 

The key is that the sustained & validated good behavior, employment, clean urines and good reports from the family, would have a major impact on reducing legal sanctions i.e. probation time, prison time and/or parole time.  The recovering addict or former criminal will feel the pride in that he or she was finally responsible for something good happening to him/her.  The experience of sustained "right living" and associated family and legal affirmation and recognition, has for years been the catalyst for lasting change.  It's real and it's earned and I've seen this happen hundreds of times in my 50 years of experience working with criminal and/or delinquent addicts.  That said, our present legal system is not set up effectively recognize and reward consistent positive action.

We might want to rebuild our criminal justice system to allow for criminals to work off any and all sanctions associated with their arrest.  The positive experience with the drug court model is a good example of a system based on incentives.  Taking this model further, all legal court ordered punishment will be subject to reduction based on the efforts of the inmate, probationer or parolee.  This system should be allowed for nearly all criminals with few exceptions.