- 67% of those on parole in NY state have a history of drug abuse
- 50% have a history of alcohol abuse.
- 77% of parolees in western NY have a history of drug abuse
- 70% of parolees in western NY have a history of alcohol abuse
And this isn't something to be angry about?
While I would love to poop out some rainbows and think that all people can be rehabilitated, the realist in me says this is impossible. I'll even go so far to say that the persons charged in the death of Heather Boyum are beyond help. Not after multiple charges, multiple contacts with the law, callous FB posts and certainly after not taking accountability for their actions.
There are 53,000 parolees under supervision (according to the department's 2009-2010 annual report, the most recent that is publicly available). Over 9,000 were returned to prison for violating parole.
There are fewer than 1200 parole officers in NY State. That means that the average PO supervises over 44 people.
Now, riddle me this, Batman. How the heck can we expect a person to babysit that many people?!
Without a doubt, education and PREVENTION is key. Compared to my generation (wow, that just made me feel old!), I think there is less fear of consequences in today's youth. I have plenty of ideas as to why that I won't go into here. But coupled with that, we also need to address those who are already in the system. Yes, rehab needs to be part of it. But we need to protect the community from the people already in the system. Even if that means keeping them OUT of the community. The judicial system needs to serve the people and the safety that Megan Merkel and Mark Scerbo threaten.
I am not an angry person. There are just things that make me angry.
Today, I have the license to be angry about one or two things, as a matter of fact.
What makes me upset is to see a system fail to protect innocent citizens because they don't have the money to restrict offenders to jail for violations of parole. They have to kill or seriously hurt someone. Release has become a right instead of a privilege. No matter how bad a crime, unless someone is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, STATE LAW mandates that they only serve, at maximum, 6/7ths (I think...I'm still fact checking but I know it's a weird fraction) of their maximum sentence, with the rest on parole. Most don't serve that long. And the SHOCK Program, which is at the discretion of a judge, will shorten the sentence even more. Mark Scerbo was a poor candidate for SHOCK because he, reportedly, had already had a history of lack of accountability. And it's no secret that one needs accountability to be successful in any rehab program.
We can educate people to keep them from going down this disastrous path. Young people often don't think beyond the next 15 minutes in terms of consequences for their actions.
But we also need to prevent those in the system from harming - or killing - another person.
No law, no education, will make us 100% safe. But when our justice system isn't respected to the point that people would want to stay out of it - what are we left with?
