Criminal justice
Sentencing reform needs to be truly comprehensive
One of my biggest concerns is that the governor’s policy on rehabilitating “nonviolent” offenders is that 90 percent of them will be released. Therefore, we are sending the violent ones home without the treatment necessary to keep them from re-offending. This makes no sense, and is a dangerous situation.
We also have guys like my son who is serving a bone-crushing mandatory minimum on an armed robbery charge when he had no weapon, no priors and nothing was stolen. When the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, it is a serious problem for society. And without commonsense laws and programs in place for all inmates, we will never be able to stop the revolving door of incarceration. Just ask any family who is caught up in the system.
KATE BOCCIA, ALPHARETTA
Giving criminals a free pass won’t cut crime
I read your report, “Ga. sending fewer blacks to prison,” (News, Aug. 3) and was struck by the lack of reporting on the recidivism rates between blacks and whites either with past prison sentences versus prison diversion programs. I suspect providing a free pass versus a prison sentence will not alter the repeat-offender rates. And once again, the AJC plays it PC by not investigating the part that single-parent households play. Another item that caught my attention was the ignorant statement, “stuck on stupid” made by DeKalb District Attorney Robert James regarding the criminal justice system. The truly ignorant issue is him thinking he is going to change the behaviors of hardened criminals (yes, even a 17-year-old) by giving them a free pass with no, or very little, accountability. Children raised without consequences of their crimes will continue to commit crimes of increasing violence.
DEAN HEINZ, JOHNS CREEK
Ebola victims should be treated overseas
CDC Director Tom Frieden’s decision to bring Ebola victims from Africa to Atlanta is an egregious mistake. The odds of this experiment being successful are probably better than 99 percent. That isn’t good enough.
The two victims are probably better people than I am. All reasonable effort should be made to save them — over there. There are still too many one in a million chances of error to take this chance. Mr Frieden’s systems were made by humans. Governments and humans make mistakes.
There are just too many things out of Frieden’s, or anybody else’s, control. The transport plane could go down; the ambulance could roll on I-285. Tim McVeigh II could bomb the hospital. The HEPA environmental systems could malfunction, etc. Frieden should have talked with risk/return assessment specialists before making this horrendous decision.
He has unnecessarily raised the anxiety of millions of Americans and done irreparable harm to the public’s perception of the government’s and the CDC’s ability to make good decisions. Frieden will have his chance to use his quarantine and treatment systems. He needed to show better judgment as to when.
JIM CONWAY, ROSWELL
