[Vision2020] It's Time for an Honest Conversation About Marijuana . . .

[Saundra Lund]

No, I don't think sentencing biases based on gender or race are acceptable,
but the facts (as far as I'm concerned) are that both exist, and I disagree
with both.  Thanks, though, for the opportunity to include another snip from
the ACLU link I provided:

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/bittersweet-victory-patricia-sp
ottedcrows-release

Spottedcrow's incarceration also drew attention to Oklahoma's increasingly
crowded women's prisons. Oklahoma imprisons women at a higher rate than any
other state <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2044089,00.html>
, in a nation that incarcerates the  most women
<http://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/factsheet-us-
incarceration.pdf>  - in fact, the state's female incarceration rate is
almost twice the national average, leaving its prisons at capacity. Because
women account for slightly less than 7 percent of the overall jail and
prison population, the discourse on criminal justice reform is dominated by
men's incarceration rates, particularly men of color, who are egregiously
overrepresented in jails and prisons. Yet, women are the fastest-growing
segment of the prison population
<http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/index.htm> . Between 1977 and
2005, the female prison population grew by 757 percent. The war on drugs had
a heavy hand in that increase-more than half of these women are incarcerated
for nonviolent or victimless crimes such as drug possession, like
Spottedcrow. As with our male prison population, women of color are
significantly overrepresented
<http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/facts-about-over-incarceration-women-unit
ed-states>  in the criminal justice system-Black women represent 30 percent
of incarcerated women in the U.S, even though they represent 13 percent of
the general female population.

 

I wish I could provide you with a direct link to Tulsa World's excellent
series, but I don't think it's available anymore.  However, you can find the
individual articles at Oklahoma Watch by searching for "Women in Prison."
Here's a taste for you, but please do take time to learn more by doing the
search:

http://oklahomawatch.org/2011/01/30/oklahoma-laws-foster-incarceration-rates
/

The "hockey-stick" pattern is not unique to Oklahoma's female prison
population, or to the state. Between 1987 and 2007, the number of prisoners
in the U.S. nearly tripled; in 2008, there were more than 2.3 million adults
in prison, more by sheer number, as well as per capita rate, than any
country in the world.

The same factors that criminologists point to as having contributed to the
growth in prison populations are present in Oklahoma: decades of "tough on
crime," politics, the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, the war on
drugs and a federally financed prison construction boom.

What the graphs don't explain, however, is why those factors have operated
so severely on women. The nation's female prison population grew by 832
percent between 1997 and 2007, while the male population grew only half as
much. Nor do they explain why Oklahoma women, in particular, are so much
more likely to go to prison. In 2004, the state imprisoned more than 10
times as many women per capita as Massachusetts or Rhode Island.

Overly simplistic views & solutions of the proximate issues that contribute
to non-violent crime especially, and overly simplistic sentencing that lead
to things like a 12-year sentence for a first time non-violent offense like
selling $30 of weed cause problems that we can't rightly just shrug our
shoulders about and say "let them clean up their own mess."

 

 

Saundra

 

 

From: Wayne Price [mailto:bear at moscow.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 12:10 PM
To: Saundra Lund
Cc: 'Moscow Vision 2020'
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] It's Time for an Honest Conversation About
Marijuana . . .

 

And Saundra, based on what you wrote, the "insane sentencing of women", do
you think there should be sentencing based on gender? And if it's OK to
sentence those convicted of a crime based on gender, why not race? There is
a reason that justice is depicted wearing a blindfold. Neither race, nor
gender, nor religion, nor socio-economic status   is a valid reason for a
sentence to be varied one way or the other. The law should be the law for
all.

 

I personally think the original sentence she got was ridiculous, BUT, that
was the sentencing she was given, by law, within the jurisdiction she lived.

IF the people of Oklahoma don't like the laws, then THEY should change them,
and vote accordingly when their elected representatives come up for
re-election at the polls.

And if you're wondering, I don't vote based on party affiliation, especially
with the incumbents.  I base my vote on what they have done, or not done
while in office.

 

A current example that was in todays paper are the new baseball fields that
the tax payers are going to foot the 3 million dollar bill for. First, do I
think we can use proper 

baseball fields here in Moscow? Yes, I do.  Can we afford them right now?
No, I don't think so. What this action tells me as a tax payer, is that both
the City Council, and the School Board give those fields a 3 million dollar
priority, and that THE BEST use of 3 million dollars is for sports fields.
That's fine, as I believe that is what they seriously think. I don't however
think that THE BEST use of 3 million dollars, given the state of the school
buildings here in Moscow. So, based on that, when the School Board comes
looking for a rate increase, I'll vote no, and will not vote for the members
of either the City Council nor the School Board  that think the number one
priority is sports fields over school buildings.

 

Wayne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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