Give prisoners the help they need so they don’t return
With the glaring headlines in the April 23 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about replacing Fulton County jail to the tune of $2 billion, it was refreshing to hear Republican Doug Collins speak the words “criminal justice reform” and, more importantly, acknowledge the importance of understanding the relationship between recidivism and lack of resources.
The community at large wants to say, “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” If it were that simple, we would have a much lower incarceration rate. As Mr. Collins mentioned of one example, “the intentional structuring of his punishment, allowed him to sow the seeds for a better life.”
The key is “intentional.” Having people professionally assessed and diagnosed and given a course of treatment to repair the person’s criminal behaviors while providing them with the necessary resources will reduce the number of people in jail, period.
As Mr. Collins said, “our current system is not doing its job of protecting our citizens,” as it stands now we are seriously soft on crime.
KATE BOCCIA, CEO, THE NATIONAL INCARCERATION ASSOCIATION INC.
Raising taxes a fairer way to ease inflation
While I enjoy observing the ruling class in Washington going about the people’s business, I can’t help thinking that these interest rate increases simply hurt low-income people the most.
Homeownership is out of reach for most Americans, and if they do purchase a home at today’s interest rates, who benefits? The wealthy, of course. A fairer way of easing inflation would have been a tax increase across the board. This would have taken money out of the economy and eased the deficit. Some people suffer from high interest rates more than others. Poor people pay interest; the rich live off of interest. The Federal Reserve’s raising of the prime rate hits the most vulnerable. Snidely Whiplash from the Saturday cartoons could not have hurt working people worse. We all have a voice, I suppose. The voices of the wealthy are the loudest of all.
BOB LOWTHER, DALLAS
