When Did We Stop Punishing Criminals?

Back when I was a kid if you did something wrong, they threw the book at you.  So you wouldn't do it again.

And we didn't.

Now?  It seems that, "Don't you do that again!," is used over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again (throw in a few more "overs"), until the threat has no teeth.  No perpetrator believes them anymore.  And that's why the average, AVERAGE number of criminal arrests in our 50 largest cities, before a criminal actually goes to prison, is 34.  

34!

And some are as many as 50!  I write about this because a news story caught my attention.  It seems that Darez Diggs, Buffalo Bills running back Stefon Diggs' brother, was arrested for burglary, assault and robbery in Los Angeles last year.  He and two accomplices followed a jeweler into an elevator, roughed him up, kicked him in the head, and stole more than $100,000 of his jewelry.  Diggs held the elevator for the thieves and then fenced the jewelry, the victim's lawsuit claims.  And Diggs pled guilty to avoid trial, copping to only to petty theft.  

PETTY THEFT?  

So, instead of getting 5 to 8 years for his part in this crime, Diggs was given two years of probation, ordered to serve 20 hours of community service, and fined $1,000.

WHA.....?

I gotta' tell you, after a pretty rocky youth, what with hustling pool in dirty dive bars all over the Country, I straightened out pretty good and became one of those "productive citizens" you read about.  But now I'm wondering why?  Why should anyone stay on the straight and narrow when a.), the chances of getting caught are so remote; and b.), even if they catch you you're out by dark and you get some stupid probation?  As in, don't do that again...

Here's the problem; we have 1,998,443 prison and jail cells in all of America.  And at any one time we have as many as 4,600,000 criminals.  That we don't have a place to put.  So we give them a bond and send them back out into the world.  So that many can commit some more of the same crimes.  They are screwing us, The Public.  And they don't even give a sh*t.

There was a particularly productive car thief last year who stole a car in West Covina at 2:15 a.m.  He was arrested by 5:00 a.m., booked into jail, fingerprinted and released.  He stole another car at 1:20 p.m. and was subsequently arrested, booked and released on a separate bond.  And while the cops were still filling out the booking papers from his earlier two car thefts, he stole yet a third at 9:49 p.m.  From the police parking lot.  He was arrested at 12:40 a.m. the next morning and booked into jail.  This time they decided to keep him.

So one would logically think that so long as they keep on releasing perpetrators this law-breaking will continue.

Well DUH!

In case anyone with a hint of common sense might just be reading this, how about putting Bad Guys into jail and leaving them there?  Hello?  Anyone there?

We move to the cities for convenience and jobs and a better life.  We do so expecting we'll be kept safe in exchange for the outrageous taxation those cities impose upon us.  But when we're forced to swim through a sea of sharks, I'm thinking a return to hunting/gathering might be in order.