There are so many horrors on the news in recent weeks, from hurricanes to earthquakes to mass shootings. It is enough to entice us all to give up helping as there are just too many needs.

But we must persevere with hope. Of course we need to be careful about the goals we set. I am certain that heads of drug cartels and corrupt corporations and those folks whose political careers led to news conference pictures of head-hanging shame all had plenty of "grit" and passion and perseverance.

But here is the deal. If the we who are working to improve communities, to be solid (though of course not perfect) parents; who are learning from the wise folks, encouraging and help others in their good efforts; learning, acting, loving with hands and feet; advocating and working for justice: if we give up, will things get better? Will you have more hope? Will you give up on other difficult things like being friends with broken folks, or walking with the sad, distress, wounded who share our space, even when they are family? children?

Some are called to increasing responsibilities on boards, councils, committees supporting social justice and political action. Some write books or songs. Some make speeches to and personally advocate with folks who can make better decision for our communities and countries. Some are called to write a note; make a phone call; to assure the man waiting at the VA that he is seen, the woman in line to visit a loved one in jail that she is heard; to be the one who reaches out to heal a rift. 

I know you are a perfectly fine lady or gent, but frankly, that is just not enough. I know it is scary, even overwhelming, but it is so worth it. If you can make just one life better, it will make your own life better. If you can lead the charge for better conditions for the poor, the under-educated, the vulnerable on a larger scale, is your reluctance so great that you can lay your abilities, your praying voice, your intellect, your physical capacities aside when it is your loved one who might be blessed, even it is in a generation yet unborn?

We need to heed where our tax dollars are spent, to hold political folks, social service agencies, educators, law enforcement accountable. But we must first BE accountable. And we need to remember that folks who need to be held accountable are human beings with their own burdens and challenges. So we need to forgo railing at bad apples, in favor of offering to be a part of the solution.

If you are a member of a church and they can't help you connect to an opportunity to be a force for positive change, then change churches or advocate for them to step up or call the United Way or any other agency that tugs on your heart! Look around at your neighbors, family, church family, friends, co-workers for ideas. Pay attention to the local political legislation and advocacy efforts and speak out for those who have compromised voices. Leave your ego at home and really listen wherever you go and God will give you ears and grow your heart and take your abilities and infuse them with His Power and His Wisdom.

I promise.

I have long believed that being a correctional officer is about the most difficult job around. Surely our local jail is setting new standards in making this a dangerous and miserable job.

Yesterday the news had two jail stories:

• One is the death of a newly sentenced felon facing 80 years in jail who died in what has been described as a "common area" and, though still under investigation by the Sheriff, is already being widely reported as "suicide". So I have questions:

1. If someone has been recently sentenced to such a severe sentence with the attendant public shame, would they not as a matter of course be considered at risk for suicide and more heavily monitored?
2. Considering the nature of his sentence and the history of the most dangerous incarcerated individuals to placating their own guilt by doing violence to someone they deem "worse" and the fact that suicides in a "common area" are not common because of the less private nature of the space, does this not ask for a robust consideration of other possible causes?
3. 200 federal agents descended on this facility this past summer to arrest one inmate and two staff members now charged with trafficking in drugs and other contraband, so if this is a drug induced suicide, will any complicit staff or incarcerated individuals be held accountable?

• Also this day the story broke about a young, robust, male correctional officer who was severely beaten by three to four incarcerated men in administrative segregation. For the uninitiated, "Ad Seg" is used to isolate incarcerated people who are considered either very dangerous (folks with a history of violence, known gang leaders, murderers, a history of violent or unpredictable behaviors, OR those who are considered very vulnerable (who have been the target of credible threats of violence or been victims of violence within the jail previously, the seriously mentally ill, former members of the legal system such as correctional officers, police, judges, attorneys, and "the famous" charged with such heinous crimes that no bail is offered, and those who are presumed to be targets among folks who are in the general jail or prison population), Because of this volatile mix Ad Seg procedures, rules and safety precautions are generally the most stringent in any jail or prison. For instance there are normally at least two COs staffing the area and generally only one incarcerated person is out of their cell at any time*. Yet in the video released today the CO is alone and faced with the choice of "holding his ground" on an upper walkway where, if he was trapped there, was likely to be pitched off to the floor below with force, or to go down the steps and accept that he will be severely beaten by four roaming inmates until his co-workers can show up and get the situation under control. I wonder when he called for help if he realized that it would take more than two minutes for help to arrive; even just watching the video it seems a very long two minutes. No information was provided about the condition of the young man who was beaten. PTSD seems a given and serous physical injury probable.

No, today is not a good day for our local County Executive and County Commissioners. The have spent many months aware of the problems and responding with two separate audits, much posturing and no leadership as the elected county official with the "ultimate" responsibility for the jail was quoted this summer as saying “things happen in a jail” and publicly contradicting the County Prosecutor, County Sheriff and the Presiding Judge of our Circuit Court (all accountable to the voters in this county) about the seriousness of the situation.

So, fellow taxpayers, exactly how bad do things need to get before we are flooding the mail rooms, jamming the switchboards, sending countless emails and standing for justice. Surely the most "law-&-order-means-more-punishment" oriented citizens do not believe that this situation has ANY redeeming parts. A jail where lawlessness prevails is an embarrassment to honest people everywhere. A jail where the most vulnerable of the incarcerated and those who have been asked by us, the public, to be employed there are persistently and frequently subjected to violence, rape, intimidation, filth, lawlessness, and a range of disgusting and dangerous conditions demands each of us be more than appalled.** We must ACT.

Yet there is no public or political or faith-based group calling for County government, Law Enforcement, Prosecuting and Judicial stakeholders leadership to form and support a task force of their folks along with organizations who have been studying and are knowledgeable about responsible changes that are needed. There improvements already initiated in jurisdictions across the country that are proving fiscally prudent, effective in improving public safety, capable of sustaining a tolerable working environment, and meeting their responsibilities to limit punishment to that meted out by the courts. State laws need to be updated so our court system is empowered to make changes reforming those things that are NOT working here in ways that have already been demonstrated to be successful working elsewhere. Where is the sense of urgency to keep our correctional officers safe, to keep those who are incarcerated safe (by far the majority of which are incarcerated more for being poor than being dangerous), for standing for basic human dignity  in ways that improve public safety rather than being the essence of unjust, unsafe and unlawful.

There is no evidence that any management personnel have been held accountable for failures in their areas of responsibility. We have not been given assurances that possible complicity by management  in criminal behavior by staff is being investigated locally either by the Sheriff or by the County officials with personnel oversight responsibility.

With all the myriad of problems from criminal charges to civil lawsuits, to fiduciary irresponsibility by public officials, to what may be the most hostile working conditions outside of a war zone, I begin to believe that ONLY returning to Federal Oversight*** (neither a cost effective not particularly efficient option) may be the only hope for the poor, the disenfranchised and those employed at the Jackson County Jail. 

The longer we are complaisant, the more our public elected officials fail to meet the most minimal of human needs by the staff, the burgeoning incarcerated population and their families. Not one of us is safer because this is being allowed to await federal or state judicial intervention.

When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he saves those whose spirits are crushed.  Psalm 34: 17-18
--------------------------------------------------------------
* People incarcerated in Ag Seg generally only get one hour a day out of their cells for exercise although even this can be withheld for the most violent/unpredictable or due to staffing shortage, a chronic problem in jails and prisons across the country and a major, long-term problem at our local jail.
** the Jail's website touts the nearly $3 million dollars spent this summer to repair 488 doors. Surly the lack of doors capable of keeping the person INSIDE the cell safe from violent offenders is a basic responsibility of any jail or prison and a basic need to keep correctional officers safe. Might such a cell being available to the CO who was assaulted so heinously have provided time to get help to him before he was beaten so severely?
*** For roughly two decades, starting in the 1980s, the jail was operated under the direct supervision of the federal court. That oversight ended only after officials added beds to ease overcrowding concerns.

Two of my adult children have a heart for animal rescue work. These are the folks that see an emaciated dog chained in a sparse yard trying to find a spot of shade and don't just click their tongues and look away.  They work with an organization that reaches out to the pet owners and offer a gift of a bigger water bowl and a longer, lighter chain and maybe a tube of something to help heal the sores caused by the dog trying to escape the miseries of thirst and excessive heat. If the owner can't or won't learn how to treat the animal better, they may have to refer the animal for removal. I'm very proud of them because they are acting rather than complaining.

But when I see them with rescued dogs I can't help but wonder how long it takes the dog to trust, to replace horrid memories with new memories of kindness and proper care.

I know that I am like that when I realize I have been doing things that harm me, things God has "forbidden" not because He is harsh or cruel or wants to "spoil our fun" but because those things harm us and those we love. So when we awake to the wrong behavior and begin to realize the danger that behavior poses to ourselves and to those we love, that is often not enough -- just realizing. We also have to act in new ways, to let God heal us to the point we can believe God is cheering for us and sending us blessings (wise friends, good books, movies with hope, songs that touch our heart, amazing sunrises at the beach and awe-inspiring sunsets behind grand mountains, and soothing walks in the woods, to name a few). Such things teach us to hope, to believe that we are not so far "gone" that God can't care about us.

Like that frightened, abused puppy we need a new life to replace the painful one we have experienced. To find a new way we need to talk to God (pray), study about God (read the Bible in a translation that speaks to your heart), find trustworthy friends in a church who serve honestly, and sometimes with little steps and sometimes with giant leaps we begin to replace fear with Love, anxiety with Trust, despair with Hope.

God has important plans for us, to reclaim for us what we were born to be, to love as we are loved by God, to show kindness toward others without expectation of getting anything in return. God has infinite patience with those who seek Him -- God loves you exactly as you are. This is the most excellent way of living.

St. Paul wrote, “I will show you the most excellent way.”   - 1 Corinthians 12:31 (NIV)

I was contemplating how our legal system became such an unmitigated nightmare and I began to think of my own slow dawning awareness of the multitude of levels, issues, individuals, agencies, communities and the myriad of challenges. Some crimes seemed to have simmered for years: domestic abuse, sexual assault, fraud and scams, and hate crimes come to mind. Some crimes seem to be a result of no thought at all, but rather impulsive acts with no thought of consequences from a lost temper, a crime of opportunity (impulsive shop lifting, car jacking, theft, assault, dealing drugs to get drugs, revenge, retaliation and rage) all with little or no planning and certainly no thought of potential consequences for self, victims or the legion of others whose lives will change in that moment.

And we have plenty opportunity to be entertained and educated at the same time. After all since Law & Order arrived on our TVs in our living rooms 27 years ago we have had access to 1,096 original episodes and a movie plus 27 years of reruns in which to dissect the ins and out of the criminal justice system. Except, of course, if you have ever lived in a family, worked in the medical field, been a nerd, been in the military, worked as a firefighter, had Friends, worked for a university, etc. you are well aware that television does not present anything like reality. When Law & Order first arrived on the scene it was so much more "gritty" and tackled some issues of ethics and victim angst and wrongful conviction and corruption and gangs and crimes against children and women and elder folks that had been handled more obliquely before.

But in some ways that seems to be a part of the problem...the very increase in addressing some difficult issues seems to have caused unrealistic beliefs that "finally we know the truth." But just like you who have worked in painfully dysfunctional offices without the levity provided by Steve Carell or Drew Carey, or who have been closely associated with self-destructive sexual predators without the laugh-track from 2-1/2 Men understand that TV is more about keeping people entertained than in sticking to reality. And so people at all levels of the legal system find the 47 minutes of Law & Order self-serving at best. And you will note that no successful sit-com is situated in a correctional faculty or with a low-income family trying to rebuild their lives after serving a sentence for their most public mistake both of which are about has hilarious as terminal cancer.

And, frankly, investigating, learning, and processing the challenges, and struggling to find better options than the current legal system offers is hard, frightening, disheartening and heart-breaking work.

But the current system is only building unethical bad guys faster than the Terminator can mow them down. Boys in foster care are showing up in prisons at a rate of 4 in 10 by age 21 and their poor education levels (often exacerbated by the incarceration of care givers, the chaos in foster care, too common PTSD and frequent school changes all put these most victimized of children into unacceptably high risk environments, failing to even address the issues of how they learn to care for themselves as adults, how honorable men and women behave, how to be the people they were created to be. We truly throw them away, judging them harshly while offering no life-preserver in ever more treacherous seas.

Television speaks of crimes and crime victims, the challenging life of law enforcement personnel and prosecutors with little respect for attorney's although those who can afford able representation generally fair much better in the legal system than those without. Television clearly indicates that when the trial is over the story has ended, which is a huge lie. Victim's and their families are still damaged by the crime. Prison staff and prisoners serve time together and the families of each pay unique prices for the challenges that exist in prisons and jails every day.

So please do not skip over the newspaper and ezine articles on the US legal system. The growing numbers of incarcerated, dwindling numbers of those who find a better way while incarcerated, the proliferation of laws, inequitable prosecution and sentencing, the fracturing of families and communities are all roaring forward as more folks who were over-sentenced since the "get tough on crime" efforts in the 1980s and 1990s that have lead to overcrowding being the rule rather than the exception across the country, have lured us to this time when those sentences are ending with a lot of very under-skilled folks who have given up much hope of leading productive lives or rebuilding relationships which leads to depression (and self-medication) or rage being discharged with few skills in communities without the resources to improve the situation.

This pending fracture to society is building in every state. In Kansas three of the nine prisons are dealing with dangerous staff shortages and the myriad of problems that feeds.

In Law & Order we often hear about the infamous jail on Ryker's Island. It has been deemed wholly corrupt, responsible for injuries and death of people who have never even been tried, much less convicted and many with very minor crimes but who are too poor to pay fines, court costs or bail. The mayor said it would take 20 years to make it better, then changed it to 10 years if they could drop the jail population from 10,000 to 5,000.

In Jackson County, elected county officials responsible for the jail recently stated proudly they had allocated $2.8 million to repair 488 sliding cell doors which means neither those incarcerated nor those overseeing them have been protected from violence. Staff shortages have been exacerbated by increased absenteeism which seems a logical outcome of running an unsafe and unnecessarily stressful work place.  There are law suits by those who have been incarcerated and by former staff citing dangerous conditions and injuries, two deaths of incarcerated persons related to questionable medical care, two audits paid for by the county to say this is immoral and dangerous, 200 federal agents who arrived to arrest two correctional officers, an inmate and a civilian for trafficking in contraband including cell phones, drugs and cigarettes ... to name some of the problems reported in the news and cited in the audits.  Yet public officials from the County Prosecutor to the County Executive to the County Sheriff all say it is horrid, bad, must be fixed, yet seem to say it is "not that bad."

The children of the wealthy do not generally find their daughters jailed who were picked on on traffic violations and sent to overnight in the jail only to be sexually assaulted. Nor do their sons or mothers or brother experience death by withheld or incompetent medical care. I don't suppose if they get stopped for a DUI or traffic problem or unpaid traffic tickets or back child support, that they are personally sent to the jail. Otherwise, surely these would seem very bad problems indeed to them.

Although blogs come in all sorts and flavors, we bloggers generally have one thing in common ... we love words. I fell in love with words when I realize that words could transport me through time and space, explore the perspectives of people with very different experiences than my own, and leave me dancing with joy through conversation with someone whose journey shed light on my own.

But I experienced something so sweet that I find even in my own head I can't find adequate words to describe the amazing grace that poured into my life today.

Maybe I should start by saying that, though I know and love many delightful women, I'm often not so crazy about women as a group. From bullying teenage girls to destructively competitive women in the workplace, through inept women who would use our shared gender to excuse their own thorny behaviors and certain church ladies who suck joy form the simplest gatherings, I have been injured by many women. Not all women behave this way, of course, but for too many competition is more dearly held than collaboration. (I do know, men do their own crumby stuff, but that is their own journey.)

I wonder: why do women -- mothers and daughters and sisters and girl-friends and colleagues -- with such great capacity to building joyous, supportive relationships, too often opt for catty, callous and mean?

So today was especially sweet. I spent nearly all day with only women. This gather was really too delightful to express clearly. These women are both broken and incredibly strong, actually women made strong by the challenges they have faced and the choices they make in the wake of challenges. These are generous women who share their experience, hope and faith with great tenderness and searing personal honesty. They support one another; challenge one another to take important and necessary risks with hope and perseverance. They speak truth ever so gently. They shine light into darkness. They encourage and cheer, and rejoice in each other's victories.  They cry tears of sorrow and healing and joy. They laugh and tease and teach. They listen and love and pray and hug ... and the greatest of these is indeed love.

Sisters of heart and choice and faith, thank you for wrapping me in love and hope and sweet dreams of possibilities, and for persistently praying practical encouragement to convert dreams to plans.

​Truly love drives out fear.

(Why do we have jails and prisons? I suppose many people never really think about this very seriously and more would probably answer "to keep us safe".

But is what we are doing making us any safer? Statistics clearly show that crime rates have not dropped as incarcerations have accelerated. I'd love to see the Freakonomics guys* aim some of their research to expose the increase in community poverty as incarcerations rates rise. Families whose children often encounter the "gateway" to incarceration through small infractions inflated by poverty, low-literacy and poor or inaccurate understanding of how to handle low-level legal problems can too often graduate to more family fracturing through financial loss, fear and the multitude of steps needed to overcome each misstep.

But how do we actually expect jails and prisons to work? Do we expect people to come out with new positive attitudes about the potential for success by following the straight and narrow road? Do we expect people to come out with more wisdom and better skills for being contributing members of society? Do communities respond with hate or indifference or by mentoring a returning person as they readjust to a life that has quite literally passed them by? Do churches do a better job than our government, culture or the too small and narrow pockets of social service networks?

Or do we just want them to all die? I know that sound harsh, but frankly, this seems to be the attitude of so many people which is puzzling, since the current numbers indicate that one in four people have been arrested at some time. Of course, arrest does not always lead to incarcerations, but each comes with the potential to do so. So why are we so complaisant, at least until it is one of "our own" who encounters the challenges?

In history, including but not exclusively Biblical  history, incarceration was literally a "last resort" when folks repeatedly committed such dangerous acts that long-term incarceration or death was deemed necessary for the protection of society. Today too often it is seen as inevitable by folks on both sidelines -- low grade offenders and enforcement folks. When smaller communities had more input into the justice system more wayward folks were redirected back into contributing positions in society rather than catapulted into journeys that too often make "baby badies" into hardened, determined men and women with little or nothing to lose.

Today, not all who are incarcerated even come to trail, but can languish for weeks or months or even years as prosecutors work to "make the case." Some are never tried -- if they were determined in pretrial to have not been the guilty party, or that while they were not completely cleared there was ultimately inadequate proof to bring to trial. Some plead out and there is increasing evidence that this can occur when they are bullied by threats of being charged with decades or life sentences versus a few years if they "confess" and accept a plea which reduces the cost to the prosecutor's office but may not actually advance the cause of justice....if indeed their crimes are worthy of a decades to life punishment, is it justice to victims or safe to the community for them to "get off" with short sentences?  Some are found guilty, but when it has taken so long that "time served" is the outcome --  isn't it odd that their sentence is "just" by accident. And what consideration is given if the time they served was actually too long and the financial costs (legal fees, lost wages, costs to families, trauma to children, etc) were unreasonable in light of the final judgement.  

Some are found guilty and were sent to "do time" in a hodgepodge of ways. In some states low-grade felony time is served in the local jail if the sentence is less than 6 months; in other states it runs to two years. For example if the limit is 12 months you will find a disproportionate number of sentences for 11 months 29 days which keeps folks in the local jail. If local jail overcrowding becomes an issue I suspect the disproportion begins to run to 12 months 1 day. This also makes a huge difference in the likelihood of rehabilitation. Being in jail MAY mean being closer to supportive family and church family and being released into a more familiar environment. But being in prison MAY mean better access to GED classes, job-training, parenting classes, life skills classes and designed release programs with some better track record of lower recividism. 

Sentences can run consecutively (so five 20 years sentences become 100 years) or concurrently (thel five sentences are completed on the same day 20 years hence). I'd love to talk to retired judges to understand how well such things are considered by the judiciary and how careful judges are in considering the bigger picture relating to justice; for too often a less than five year jail sentence leaves offenders with mental health, medical, family and financial brokenness that results in homelessness, recidivism, early death and/or a long-term, constant drain on public resources.  

Is this really the outcome that serves the victims, the communities or society at large?.Are we not ALL better served if they are welcomed and even coached back in to lives of productive living, working, paying their way (and paying taxes), raising healthier kids rescued from the foster care system, contributors to their families, communities and society?
____________________________
*Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Other than a sociopath, no one wants her child involved in the legal system. In fact, most parents spend a lot of thought and energy into considering how to keep our children from being victims of crime from the time we worry about kidnappings and child molesters through driver's licenses, popular music concerts and dating on college campuses. And no one is happy when that child engages in behaviors that are illegal.

But how many folks say, "Someday I hope my child grows up to be a Correction Officer or a Prison Chaplin or a Warden"? I know third and forth generation military families, law enforcement families, firefighter families, teachers' families who consider their honorable public service worth the challenges. But not so much for Correctional Officers laboring in dangerous and often unpleasant and hostile environments requiring extraordinary vigilance to keep each other, themselves and the incarcerated folks safe in persistently difficult situations. The near constant anxiety, frequent pressure to act unethically, low salaries, 24-7 scheduling, growing overcrowding, constant exposure to angry, sad, fearful, hopeless folks and pernicious danger leads to physical illness, fractured families and too often overwhelming sorrow. 

Even if only 10% of the incarcerated population has embraced violent and outrageous behaviors, this is a losing situation for all folks inside the walls. And the less hope there is for a better tomorrow, the worse the odds get as more incarcerated people are subject to the unwanted attention of the worst offenders. The poorer are working conditions the harder it becomes to attract high-functioning, able and ethical prison staff which leads to staffing shortages which makes facilities more dangerous than ever.

Then we have the people at the top of the chain of command, the elected officials who either believe there are no better ways than what we currently have or the ones who feed the fears of their electorate with promises of "getting tougher" even as crime rates do not improve and folks who complete their sentences or are released on parole re-offend in ever higher percentages while crime rates fail to drop and even rise and as whole communities continue to flounder.

We are incarcerating AND failing to rehabilitate such a stunning portion of our overall population that from a purely financial point of view this is a growing disaster. When looked at from a humanitarian perspective is it unconscionable...and unparalleled in the world. 

Rikers Island has been found to be place of appalling abuse, filth, waste, danger, public health concerns and inconceivable working conditions that are the entrenched norm have required federal court intervention. It is so horrible there is now consensus that "something must be done as fast as possible" and they think they may be able to close it down in 10 years (a reduction from the Mayor's earlier "hope" they could do it in 20 years) if they can reduce the incarcerated population from the current 10,000 to 5,000 and raise $1.39 BILLION dollars (which will be estimated to save $1.4 million per year) .*

Praying is essential, but this much foster the following through of churches and their members in advocating, educating and working to reduce the number of children lost, improve conditions of incarceration and step in to mentor those who have completed their time of incarceration and long to return to or to become contributing members in their families and communities.

_____________
*   www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/nyregion/rikers-island-jail-closure-plan.html?mcubz=3

I happened to walk past the TV as a 48 Hours episode was ending. Because of my increased awareness of the extreme differences in sentencing I took note of something I had not really listened to before. Two folks in different states were dead as the result of property crimes gone wrong (a home invasion robbery and a car jacking) but the sentences in one instance were 25 and 30 years and the other was 5 and 7 years though each occurred during the commission of a crime. Was one person more likable than the other? Better or less well educated? More or less valued by their families?

Several things contribute to an increasingly irrational and frightening trend in sentences that tend to make people trust the legal system less because it is experienced as increasingly capricious and inexplicable.

1. Who arrests you matters.  The same offense investigated and charged at the local level could have sentencing guidelines that vary by two to three times. For people who have been caught in the pornography marketers web come ons ignorance can be costly: if a website or Craig's list contact tells you that what they are selling is "within legal limits" it is not necessarily true and EACH frame of a video clip is a separate charge at the federal level. At this time federal offenders are receiving higher sentences for e-crimes than local folks are getting for who actually have had contact with a child. Wives who have trusted husbands to handle family finances can be charged if funds from an illegal activity (whether that is fraud or a drug connection) if "dirty money" has been deposited in a joint account they used to pay household bills. This is often done to give prosecutors leverage to get a spouse to "flip" even when there is no evidence that the spouse has anything to "sell". This can result in a savvy co-conspirator negotiating a lighter sentence than the clueless mom watching her kids being sent into foster care.

2. How the offense is calculated matters.  If a person burglarizes your house while you are away (purely a property crime) and you are a person of influence in your community and are deeply upset, the prosecutor may add things like "possession of burglary tools" and "trespassing" to the charges in order placate someone they perceive as "important" or to leverage the process or to use plea bargaining to polish their conviction record. A less attractive offender may also evoke a harsher response such as someone who is poor, homeless, fresh out of foster care or unemployed. This in turn confuses people who learn that when their personal burglar was sentenced it was for a much lower time even though they had learned it was a multiple offender and so a sense of unequal justice is born in both in the victim and in the family and friends of the offender. Most of the "extra" charges were originally enacted to allow folks to face charges if apprehended BEFORE actually breaking into a home, but are now used in a destructive game stacked in favor of those with resources for attorneys, bail, fines, rehab, classes and restitution.

3. Who you are matters.  We want to believe this on one hand but every day attorneys advertise to assure us that we dare not speak with an insurance company or handle a traffic ticket without their help. A "simple" charge with a single hearing and dismissal can easily run up a $5,000 legal bill. For a serious crime where professional help in running down records and witnesses can easily run to six figures quickly. So, until we have National Legal Care, folks who have the money go to driving class or drug court have a very different experience than people without who sit in jail because they can't even make bail. It feels like the correlation between the number of attorneys in the halls of state houses and Congress may be affecting how important clarity in legal statues, regulations, rules et al is to those who make the laws.

4. Police officers and deputies have little if any input in what happens at the prosecutor's office. They may see a child as needing to be removed from a parent to another family member for a time because they know the people and community involved. But the prosecutor may see someone whose parent is irritating or whose legal aid advocate is not meeting deadlines. The prosecutor's perspective prevails. Additionally I believe many in the proprietorial and judicial systems prefer to ignore the part they are playing in the growing problems; I'm pretty sure that if their college student is picked up DUI a very small number ever spend the weekend in jail as a result. Recently, amid a growing scandal of assaults of both COs and accused offenders/low level offenders by unsegregated violent offenders awaiting trial or transport, increasing lawsuits for unsafe conditions for jail staff and those incarcerated, and terrifyingly inadequate medical care resulting in severe injuries and deaths of people being held at the jail (80%+ have not been adjudicated but neither they nor their families can pay bail, or they have been convicted of misdemeanors but are not able to come up with the cash to pay court costs or fees or fines. This can result in children being added to an already overcrowded foster care system.) Yet one of our local judges was quoted as saying, "We even have to adjust our schedules when there are not guards available to transport prisoners." If he walked across the street he might realize this is a much bigger problem than he seems to perceive. Earlier this month an already dangerously understaffed jail experienced a 25-person "outage" making conditions even more than usually dangerous.  Of course, those incarcerated there are not able to call in for a mental health day. And even when a citizen is found innocent they are often have no voice when they seek to advocate for reforms.

Every year members of governmental agencies, in state Houses and Senate halls, in our national's Congress people seeking political power feed the nonsensical notion that if we make a thing illegal it stops happening. As a result new laws are passed without thoughtful consideration of how other laws are affected, if other laws should be amended or recodified or rescinded and a change in federal law can take a long time to seep down to Two Egg, Florida. Personally I'd like to find candidates who promise to write no new laws, to only clarify, repair and recodify the millions of rules, regulations, laws, court case precedents and rulings to attempt to make the law possible to obey.

Mens rea, the requirement that there is intent to harm, is too often being replace with the "make an example and other people won't do this." But with the millions of rules (just think of the tax code with books of statues, Revenue Proclamations trying to clarify the law, Letter Rulings trying to address whether or not a particular course of action might or might not be illegal/actionable and the Tax Courts, the U.S. Courts of Federal Claims, District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeals findings and rulings. And that is JUST the federal tax code. Now add the tax rules, laws and regulations in 50 states and the District of Columbia) it is frustrating for citizens. People often are so worried about "getting into trouble" knowingly pay higher taxes than the law provides, or lacking the financial resources to defend themselves, allow a disallowed deduction to stand because it is too expensive to fight what may be only a poorly trained examiner. While even trained legal professionals have trouble giving a clear response when a question is asked (have you ever emailed the IRS with a question?) people at all levels of literacy and education are held accountable for errors of both omission and commission.

So we are coming far too close to a nation where if anyone looks hard enough at anyone else they can probably find a mistake and if the person looking has "clout" and person being looked at does not, they are truly in a mess.

I suggest we ask our representatives and senators regularly what they have recodified or rescinded recently in the interest of moving toward a more just society.

People who have been affected by crime and the families of crime victims are affected. They often report feeling confused, vulnerable, afraid and frustrated. For family members surviving homicide victims, the aftermath can be years in the healing as investigation, which can include surviving loved ones being considered as possible suspects, is rarely swift; months and even years can pass getting to trial and more years of appeals and parole boards. If the offender is also a family member, which is statistically not rare, there are even more circles of pain involved, more victims to process and hard work to recover physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially plus the struggle to avoid damage pouring into another generation.

Churches do pretty well with weddings, babies, failing health like surgery or hospice patients, and funerals. Issues related to family care following a violent death, divorce, incarceration, financial collapse, long-term illness, mental illness and the like, not so much. Too often when we don't know what to say we stay away. Really there is not a lot that can be said, but there a deep need to have someone listen, to be heard. We need someone to assure us that we are still acceptable, still valued, despite "unspeakable" challenges.

Larger police departments now hire someone to liaison with families of homicide victims and surviving victims of crime, but during the investigation, especially where family members wait to be cleared of suspicion, there is a fine line about what to share and with whom. This leaves victims and families frustrated and increasingly anxious, often while dealing with significant financial challenges within shattered families. If an offender is identified, goes to trail and pleads or is found guilty, there are increasing opportunities for victim impact statements as part of the sentencing process. But for folks whose case is never heard, there are extra barriers to moving forward.

All states have funds available for victims of crimes and survivors of homicide victims. You can check yours out by "googling " 'victim compensation and your state). You will be doubly glad that you are not a victim of crime because there are many barriers to receiving any help. Many non-profit service providers apply for funds (and this seems more emphasized on my state's website than are direct to victim's help, but even established service providers struggle to get funding to them in a timely manner so their staff and utilities can be paid.) Judges who think they are being kind to forgo court costs and fees are not being kind to low-income families in desperate need of victim compensation funds and services.

For victims of crime in my state (once many barriers are overcome) a maximum benefit of $25,000 may be awarded on eligible claims and may not exceed:

• $400 per week for lost wages for crimes occurring on or after Aug. 28, 2015 (equivalent to 20,800 annual salary - roughly the poverty level for a woman escaping domestic violence with two children).
• $5,000 for funeral expenses
• $2,500 per claim for counseling expenses (Sometimes provided as a possible future benefit "if needed".)
• $250 for personal property such as bedding and clothing seized by law enforcement as evidence in the crime for which the compensation is being sought

However, losses not covered include stolen or damaged property, crime scene clean-up, relocation costs even when the crime scene is the victim's home and cannot be used by the victims because of on-going investigation, damage or having been made unsafe because of the crime. In truth, few victims of crime receive any financial help except for medical treatment of injuries directly related to the crime and that is only if they are very persistent and able to figure out the forms and get all the necessary documentation in before deadlines during one of the most confusing and frightening times of their lives.

Often victims express a desire to speak with a convicted offender, but this is rarely facilitated even though it is often both healing for victims and a step towards an offender understanding more clearly the cost to people he or she has never even met. This is a revelation to too many offenders whose upbringing offered little opportunity learn empathy. It is an essential part of a successful return to a productive life in communities.

We need to remember that 95% of people who are incarcerated today will eventually return to their communities. We all benefit if they return with the skills needed to rebuild their family relationships, function as able employees, and generally strive to benefit rather than damage their community. Victims most of all benefit having their loss respected within the legal system.