Editor,
The U.S. approach to criminal justice has fluctuated throughout its history. Presidential administrations experimented with alternative programs during the '60s and '70s. In spite of this, today's prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders.
This is due to a retributive approach to crime and punishment. "Let the punishment fit the crime" is an ancient idea identical to that of "an eye for an eye." This leaves the whole world blind.
Retributive punishment laws may be a morally acceptable response to crime. However, they do not correct the wrong or rehabilitate the individual.
Investing millions of dollars into building new, bigger jails does not prevent recidivism. Re-offenders get caught in the prison system because they are not rehabilitated.
Why invest millions of taxpayers' money to lock up criminals if they are just going to return to their old ways after they are released?
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The prison system should focus on the future of prisoners so more money will not be needed for more jail time. Extreme punishment takes more money away from the state in order to feed and shelter more than 6,000 prisoners each year.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in 2006 that 95 percent of drug offenders who do not receive treatment in or outside prison relapse into continued drug use, and 70 percent return to prison. Parole should be reinstated on a federal level so offenders can receive drug treatment and other services that will help put their lives on track. High school diploma programs and life-skills programs also reduce recidivism.
Peter Ninemire wrote about his experience in the prison system as a nonviolent criminal. He was convicted twice for marijuana distribution and cultivation by state law and a third time for cultivating marijuana by federal law. He received a mandatory sentence of 24 1/2 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
He observed that the government was saying he was incurable and beyond rehabilitation by putting him away for over 24 years. He found direction and purpose in jail by co-forming an NAACP chapter in prison to support Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
He was pardoned after 10 years in prison, along with 20 other nonviolent offenders. They all agreed that the best statement they could make against mandatory minimum sentences was to show that, given a second chance, they would not return to prison. Ever since, they have lived crime-free lives with many achievements to their credit.
Corrections among offenders should be the goal of our correctional prison system. Crime stems from social and economic troubles, so those issues are what rehabilitative jail time should focus on during incarceration.
Melissa Gonzales
UNM student
