28. March 2009 by Rev Young.

The PEW Charitable Trust released a new report on the impact of those who are currently in prison, on probation or parole.  The staggering number is 7.3 million Americans that are currently under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system.  If you add to this number the family members that are impacted by these statistics and you have 73 million Americans (at least) that are impacted by the criminal justice system.

We have created a large destructive machine in America through our war on drugs, our inability and unwillingness to find alternative solutions to mental health, addictive behaviors and gang related issues.  What we have done is create a perpetuating cycle for generations of Americans that are caught in cycles of addiction, or mental health issues and condemnation of these problems through incarceration.  We put extra stress on already vulnerable families and children, who need assistance not punishment. 

The PEW Charitable trust went even further in their report by making state specific recommendation to lower the number of people on probation, parole or in prison.  They also gave examples from other states, of the decisions and policy changes that have helped them to reduce the number of people that they are over seeing. 

We are thankful for organizations like these, that take the time, make the commitment and report useful information that help us to make better decisions for the future of Americans.

 Please follow the link to read the report.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/sentencing_and_corrections/PSPP_1in31_report_FINAL_WEB_2-27-09.pdf

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28. March 2009 by Rev Young.

 The United States has been very slow and reluctant to review our juvenile justice practices.  Partly because many of the legislators and prosecutors who enacted the extremely punitive legislation are still in places of influence. 

The current budget constraints that are effecting every state budget are pushing legislators to find alternative answers to our Department of Corrections spending.  They are also trying to find a solution to a completely broken and archaic system.  If you compare the cost of Canada’s rehabilitation program to the cost of juvenile incarceration, you will see that it is far more beneficial to rehabilitate than incarcerate.  At the rate of 100,000.00 per year for 6 years, Canada will have spent $600,000.00 on the rehabilitation of this juvenile.  The United States, which would sentence someone who had committed a similar crime to Life Without The Possibility of Parole, will spend $1,750,000.00 to incarcerate a juvenile for 50 years.  This, of course does not take into account the increase in housing expenses or any medical expense costs to the state.  On average statisticians believe that it cost about $2 million to incarcerate a person for life without the possibility of parole.  Add  to that, the fact that a rehabilitated person will then go on to be gainfully employed, purchase goods and services and make contributions to their community and society as a whole, and you have compounded the expense. 

Many countries around the world have moved away from punitive measure in favor of rehabilitation, restoration and redemption.  Isn’t it time we did the same?  Read on……

Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act and the Strange Case of JR

By Dr. Frances W. Kaye

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

            In April of 2006, a gory triple murder stunned the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, and all of Canada.  A 12-year-old girl and her 23-year-old boyfriend had stabbed her parents and 8-year- old brother to death so that they could run away together and continue a life of drugs, parties, and weird werewolf fantasies.  After the killings, the two partied with friends, boasting of what they had just done.  Within 24 hours, the pair had been apprehended by an alert policeman in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.  Although the boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, admitted killing the parents, the girl, identified only as JR to protect her, had at least taken an active part in the murder of her little brother and may well have been the one to cut his throat.  Steinke had grown up with alcohol and abuse, had been the subject of bullying, and had a criminal record, but JR was a middle-class girl who had done well in school before she started seeing Steinke.  That made her willing complicity in the murder of her family all the more horrific.

            At their separate trials, both were found guilty of murder.  Steinke received Canada’s most severe sentence, life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.  Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, JR could be sentenced to no more than six years in custody and four years of supervised  release, and so she is currently serving up to six years of intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision, costing $100,000 per year.  She will be free at age 22, and, if she has no further contact with the law, her record will be sealed five years later.  At age 27, she will be considered cured and her record sealed.  Today, nearly three years after the murders, JR’s therapists report that she is “making progress.”  The judge overseeing her case declares that he is satisfied and has ordered her treatment to continue, with another review coming up in a year. 

            JR participated freely in a particularly heinous crime and has considerable notoriety as Canada’s youngest multiple killer.  Not surprisingly, many Canadians question her sentence and believe that she should be punished, not necessarily rehabilitated.  Nonetheless, the primary focus of the Youth Criminal Justice Act is on protection of society and rehabilitation of young people.  The justice system and the mental health professionals involved with JR are committed to providing her with the best treatment Canada can offer.  She is at that time of life when the parts of her brain that control emotional responses, impulse control, and rational decision making are maturing.  With careful, systematic reinforcement, she can develop the skills she so disastrously lacked at age 12.

            Nebraskans, of all people, should know that JR, and killer children like her, have the ability to reform.  In 1958, Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, began a murder spree in Lincoln by killing hr family, including her toddler sister.  Starkweather was executed; Caril Fugate was sentenced to life in prison.  In 1976, she was paroled and moved to Michigan, where she has apparently lived a blameless life ever since.  Ironically, Starkweather and Fugate were the basis for the film Natural Born Killers, which JR and Steinke watched the evening before they murdered her parents.  Apparently the thoughts of execution and life in prison incorporated in the film did not deter them.  Perhaps an emphasis on redemption and rehabilitation, instead of more violence and vengeance, might deter future would-be killers.  The Canadian justice system and the people of Canada are betting on it.

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