Below is an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. How does it relate to guns? Anti-gun folks and politicians, including mayors and police chiefs of large cities never seem to consider the costs of implementing more gun control laws that are ineffective in stopping or preventing violent crime. But suggest to them that violent criminals, sex offenders, and other dangerous people be kept off of the streets, and the first thing they ask is "how are we going to afford it?"
Comments?
http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1386010.html
Susan Lenfestey: It still costs money to get criminals off streets
Budget cuts are stretching investigators and prosecutors to the max.
Susan Lenfestey
Published: August 28, 2007
Susan Lenfestey: It still costs money to get criminals off streets
When Dru Sjodin was murdered in November 2003, there was an understandable hue and cry from the public. How could it be that her now-convicted killer, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a recently released Level 3 sex offender -- the category deemed most likely to reoffend, and as such, a candidate for a form of indefinite treatment and detention known as civil commitment -- was out on the streets unsupervised?
Well, as with fallen bridges, it's complicated, but perhaps government-on-the-cheap played a part.
When Gov. Tim Pawlenty took office in January 2003, the state was facing a $4.5 billion deficit, and with his campaign pledge not to raise taxes, cuts were being made to departments across the board, including Corrections.
In May 2003, Anita Schlank, head of Minnesota's sex-offender program, resigned after being told by a supervisor that the program was growing at an "unsustainable rate" and after being directed to draw up a list of 40 civilly committed sex offenders to place in community housing in order to save money. (This testimony became a political hot potato, denied by some but confirmed by several of Schlank's coworkers.)
According to Schlank, the order to pare down the program was in place before Pawlenty was elected, so I am not laying the release of Rodriguez at the governor's feet. But I am saying that if Rodriguez was released to save money, the savings came at a terrible cost.
Since Sjodin's murder, there's been plenty of tough talk and new legislation. Local lawmakers have changed civil-commitment procedures and have extended sentences for sexual predators. Nationally, Dru's Law, which creates a public database of sex offenders, was enacted in 2005.
However, talk about public safety is as plentiful in politics as photo ops. Paying for it is another matter. Although the 2007 legislative session restored some of the funding that was cut in 2003, the squeeze from the statehouse is still being felt at the courthouse. And Pawlenty's controversial reductions in local government aid (LGA) -- which provides state funds for cities, including Minneapolis -- is being felt acutely at the Minneapolis Police Department and city attorney's office.
In talking to people in the criminal-justice system, at both the county and the city levels, it becomes clear that they are stretched to the max.
The sex-crimes unit of the Minneapolis Police Department has been reduced from 10 officers to four, who are responsible for investigating an average of 1,300 cases a year, and that doesn't include oversight of the 2,500 registered sex offenders living in Minneapolis. "Do the math," said an officer we spoke with. "We're not checking on them." The math also means that many cases aren't being assigned an investigator -- and no investigation means no charges can be brought.
A county prosecutor said she is outraged over the low number of filings of child-abuse cases due to budget cuts in the police department's Family Violence and Sex Crimes units, which, she says, makes it impossible for the officers to keep up with investigating child-abuse cases.
The city attorney's office handled a total of 27,195 cases in 2006. (The city attorney's office handles misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors. Higher-level crimes are referred to the county.) There are 28.5 attorney positions in the office, so that's an average of 951 cases per attorney per year. Both the American Bar Association and the Minnesota state public defender recommend an annual average of 400 misdemeanor cases per attorney per year, or 250 gross-misdemeanor cases per attorney per year, so our city attorneys are carrying more than double the recommended amount. "The LGA cuts came in on top of other cuts," said one city attorney. "We've always done more with less, but now we simply can't do any more."
After a high-profile tragedy like the murder of Dru Sjodin, the tax-paying public clamors for the criminal-justice system to do a better job but balks when presented with the bill.
Obviously, throwing money at the complicated problem of sex crimes, especially at the corrections end and not the prevention end, is no panacea. But giving the justice system a shrinking budget and expecting it to effectively administer justice in these complex cases is, well, criminal.
It takes little courage for political leaders to lower the bar on sex offenders, but it takes extraordinary courage to raise the bar on taxpayers.
And as we're all slowly learning, you get what you pay for.
Susan Lenfestey is the founder of WATCH, a court monitoring and research organization that focuses on cases of violence against women and children. She writes at www.Clotheslineblog.com.
Comments?
http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1386010.html
Susan Lenfestey: It still costs money to get criminals off streets
Budget cuts are stretching investigators and prosecutors to the max.
Susan Lenfestey
Published: August 28, 2007
Susan Lenfestey: It still costs money to get criminals off streets
When Dru Sjodin was murdered in November 2003, there was an understandable hue and cry from the public. How could it be that her now-convicted killer, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a recently released Level 3 sex offender -- the category deemed most likely to reoffend, and as such, a candidate for a form of indefinite treatment and detention known as civil commitment -- was out on the streets unsupervised?
Well, as with fallen bridges, it's complicated, but perhaps government-on-the-cheap played a part.
When Gov. Tim Pawlenty took office in January 2003, the state was facing a $4.5 billion deficit, and with his campaign pledge not to raise taxes, cuts were being made to departments across the board, including Corrections.
In May 2003, Anita Schlank, head of Minnesota's sex-offender program, resigned after being told by a supervisor that the program was growing at an "unsustainable rate" and after being directed to draw up a list of 40 civilly committed sex offenders to place in community housing in order to save money. (This testimony became a political hot potato, denied by some but confirmed by several of Schlank's coworkers.)
According to Schlank, the order to pare down the program was in place before Pawlenty was elected, so I am not laying the release of Rodriguez at the governor's feet. But I am saying that if Rodriguez was released to save money, the savings came at a terrible cost.
Since Sjodin's murder, there's been plenty of tough talk and new legislation. Local lawmakers have changed civil-commitment procedures and have extended sentences for sexual predators. Nationally, Dru's Law, which creates a public database of sex offenders, was enacted in 2005.
However, talk about public safety is as plentiful in politics as photo ops. Paying for it is another matter. Although the 2007 legislative session restored some of the funding that was cut in 2003, the squeeze from the statehouse is still being felt at the courthouse. And Pawlenty's controversial reductions in local government aid (LGA) -- which provides state funds for cities, including Minneapolis -- is being felt acutely at the Minneapolis Police Department and city attorney's office.
In talking to people in the criminal-justice system, at both the county and the city levels, it becomes clear that they are stretched to the max.
The sex-crimes unit of the Minneapolis Police Department has been reduced from 10 officers to four, who are responsible for investigating an average of 1,300 cases a year, and that doesn't include oversight of the 2,500 registered sex offenders living in Minneapolis. "Do the math," said an officer we spoke with. "We're not checking on them." The math also means that many cases aren't being assigned an investigator -- and no investigation means no charges can be brought.
A county prosecutor said she is outraged over the low number of filings of child-abuse cases due to budget cuts in the police department's Family Violence and Sex Crimes units, which, she says, makes it impossible for the officers to keep up with investigating child-abuse cases.
The city attorney's office handled a total of 27,195 cases in 2006. (The city attorney's office handles misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors. Higher-level crimes are referred to the county.) There are 28.5 attorney positions in the office, so that's an average of 951 cases per attorney per year. Both the American Bar Association and the Minnesota state public defender recommend an annual average of 400 misdemeanor cases per attorney per year, or 250 gross-misdemeanor cases per attorney per year, so our city attorneys are carrying more than double the recommended amount. "The LGA cuts came in on top of other cuts," said one city attorney. "We've always done more with less, but now we simply can't do any more."
After a high-profile tragedy like the murder of Dru Sjodin, the tax-paying public clamors for the criminal-justice system to do a better job but balks when presented with the bill.
Obviously, throwing money at the complicated problem of sex crimes, especially at the corrections end and not the prevention end, is no panacea. But giving the justice system a shrinking budget and expecting it to effectively administer justice in these complex cases is, well, criminal.
It takes little courage for political leaders to lower the bar on sex offenders, but it takes extraordinary courage to raise the bar on taxpayers.
And as we're all slowly learning, you get what you pay for.
Susan Lenfestey is the founder of WATCH, a court monitoring and research organization that focuses on cases of violence against women and children. She writes at www.Clotheslineblog.com.
