Whenever a court sentences a convicted offender to prison and orders him to pay a heavy fine and to make restitution to his victim, it is perpetrating a bad joke on the criminal justice system. Here is a case in point:
MAKE THE BAD GUYS PAY
By Bob Walsh
PacoVilla’s Corrections blog
September 29, 2009
A state appeals court has recently ordered a burglar to reimburse his victim slightly more than $6,000 in lost wages for all the time the victim spent attending court proceedings other than as a witness.
Jason Lee Moore is a burglar. In February of 2008 he broke into a doctor's house in Redding and stole some stuff. In a fairly broad interpretation of law requiring criminals to compensate victims the Third District Court of appeals has ordered Moore, who was also sentenced to 10 years and change for burglary, to compensate the doctor at the rate of $125 per hour for attending all court proceedings. The ruling was 3-0. Moore's lawyer is said to be planning an appeal.
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If we were living in a perfect world that's the way it should and would be. But we don't live in a perfect world.
I laugh every time some asshole gets sent to the joint and his sentence requires him to pay a $10,000 fine or so, and to make thousands of dollars in restitution. That's a joke! It ain't gonna happen.! When the average con gets out of prison he will be flat broke. Even if he turns his life around, he will probably be able to get only menial jobs paying the minimum wage.
In some jurisdictions they can garnish his wages. If he has a family to support, then the taxpayers will have to pick up the welfare tab. And if he's single, he'll just stop working if his wages are garnished, and that means he'll return to a life of crime.
If a parolee fails to pay a court ordered fine or restitution, he will be in violation of his parole. Are they going to send him back to the joint on a parole violation when our prisons are overcrowded? Now you get the joke, don’t you.
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