Crime Pays

Take The Dime Out Of Crime

Richard Black Quijote: In an attempt to leave some legacy from my having been here, I have added a new blog - totally dedicated to issues of Prison and Correctional Reform - which has been one of my areas of expertise throughout my life. If this interests you, or just as important, if you could refer this link to someone who is a decisionma...ker in politics or corrections, then you could help create a revolution in correctional thought. It will take 1/2 hour to read. Please do what you can - thanks....

Prison Possibilities prisonpossibilities.blogspot.com

Now retired after a career in corrections, I would like to leave behind a legacy - some ideas that I have that I have not seen expressed elsewhere. These are ways that we could actually transform the correctional system without adding more money. ...

Sam Champie: Outstanding! Your thinking is correct. Even uneducated outlaws are good at math .... work 40 hours a week at $9 an hour for $360 or 40 hours cooking meth and make $5000. True story from an operation recently busted here. The problem is these guys were both in the country illegal, so they will be extradited and no doubt return again. How can these guys ever be reformed?

Richard Black Quijote: Not easy. As Outlaws, they've done the math.

Sam Champie: The Nobel Prize winning question is, "how do we change the equation?" How can we take the glamor and profit out of crime? I wrote in one of my novels that a gang is a gathering of cowards. How can we help individual outlaws wanna bees find "courage" to pursue a life of individual achievement, yet be part of a team (law abiding society)? I think ... See Moremost outlaws are victims of their environment, but in some cases they are born that way. Reminds me of the old Merle Haggard song, Mama tried. At least Merle accepted responsibility and didn't blame his mother or others.
Tue at 1:54pmRichard Black Quijote Sam, I don't know that we can take the profit out of crime. About the best that I can imagine would be a society in which people who were poorly socialized could, if they so chose, find ways to better themselves. But they would have to see bigger opportunities than slinging burgers at McDonalds. And although there are plenty of community ... See Morecolleges, it takes more socialization than most outlaws possess to even walk into a college. People who have never personally known anyone from the underclass would find it hard to believe how limited their horizons are.
Tue at 5:06pmAlbert Marques Hey Richard, Do you guys have any plans to visit Cali in the future?
Tue at 5:57pmRichard Black Quijote Hola Alberto, I wasn't really planning anything, but Manuel Agujetas is trying to convince me that we should all have a vacation in CA. I don't really have the $, so I'm listening to the plan. If we found enough house concerts and other events, then it would make sense. Do you have any ideas?

Arthur Imparato: Great blog Richard. Well thought out and thought provoking.

One idea as far as taking some of the financial incentive out of crime is to legalize all drugs, prostitution and any other crime that does not have a 'victim'. If you remove the drug money from your outlaws it would not be so glamorous to be stealing car radios and trying to sell them ... See Morefor 20 bucks on the street corner. If people want to smoke pot, snort coke or even shoot heroin - let them. They are going to do it anyway and at least the society can use the tax on drug revenue to help run government or better yet help the outlaws retrain for real work.

When you see the Bernie Madoffs of the world, raping and pillaging society and a level street criminals can't even imagine, it is easy to see why much of the youth of society don't believe in the system. There are many adults who don't make a very good example for the young.