The World's Longest Suicide Note (Part 5) 5/3/2010

 Better that we treated the drug problem as a health care issue. I think the same well works just as well for any behavior rooted in an addiction or behavioral issues. Yes, that means taking away the big bass drum for the politicians. It means overhauling our conceptions of the criminal law and the relation between the behavioral science and the law. What the most people do not understand is that being crazy means almost nothing to the law. Having behavioral issues means nothing to the law. Law has no means for incorporating the healing of addictions, or other behavioral issues, or just plain craziness into its punishment. 

Indiana's law does allow probation for almost all its offenses for first time offenses. How far the courts will go depends on the county. Madison County may still prefer sending a probationer to prison for their first violation, while Delaware County may still favor keeping drug addicts in the rehabilitation system as long as possible, even if the probationer has a new offense. Change may come when we start understanding that the old mental states (intentional, knowingly, recklessness) may be far less simple than politicians, the media, and the public would like.

What the public should know, but the media never cares asking politicians and bureaucrats, is what does this system actually cost us. As I see it, being tough on crime means banging as many people away in prison as long as possible to leave them without hope, or too old or too infirm or too frightened to re-offend and thus re-enter the system. Statistics say the hope of no re-entry is not seeing 100% fruition. Using a healing metaphor may not solve it, either, but the hidden costs of our current system deserve inspection. Those politicians (regardless of political party) and bureaucrats whose jobs depend on the status quo will object to any change.

Too many politicians owe their careers to being tough on crime without ever being called out by the media about whether being tough on crimes means being effective or even what being tough means. Think about an auto dealership where you take your car for repairs, but it never quite gets the problem fixed, but they keep working at it as you keep paying their bills. This is the American criminal justice system - from legislator to prosecutors to judges to the police. Any admission they have no idea where they solve the problem of crime undermines their career and stale incomes. At least, I assume such is their fear. Look at how California's correctional unit backed the state's three strikes law for job security.

I assume prison will have a bit more structure than what I have now. I will not have hours to read and write. I still do not see giving back any value for the cost of y incarceration. Which brings me back to my suicide option. I gave up that option when I realized I could harm others, my 14-year-old stepson told his mother he wanted to kill himself and I could not give an example to follow. I did not foresee this situation. I thought suicide would pay my debts, wrap up the business of my existence, and discharge all final obligations. So much for my intelligence, so much for my imagination,

Let me return to Mr. Hume:

All our obligations to do good to society seem to imply something reciprocal. I receive the benefits of society, and therefore ought to promote its interest. But, when I withdraw myself altogether from society, can I be bound any longer?

That society has thrust me away because of my acts, I think, only reinforces Hume's thesis that the withdrawal gives grounds for suicide. One might ponder how incarceration rends the prisoner's bonds to a broader society, but how we expect those societal bonds restored upon release or even improve by the time of release. I do not see mandatory minimums get us closer to either goal. I see a future where I burden society as an inmate and upon my release. What makes suicide unappealing in this context?

sch 

[I do have the answer to this question, it is in my journals, it is on this blog under the topics prison life, Supervised Release, and hallway house life as well as the remainder of Pretrial Detention posts (see the link below. My answer goes back to the last Hume quote - I did get my planned withdrawal from society, therefore I do owe society recompense for its benefits. I had not thought to put it into these terms until I typed up the posts under this title. Whether how I choose to pay back society is accepted by socienty is an entirely differnt story. How I have started paying my debt, read this blog and also my story (link on the main page) Death and a Kiss. sch 10/19/22]