{"id":5223,"date":"2012-07-19T17:32:49","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T23:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=5223"},"modified":"2012-07-20T10:07:04","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T16:07:04","slug":"taking-back-americas-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=5223","title":{"rendered":"Taking Back America’s Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent release of almost 100 prisoners, including several accused murderers, in Oregon emphasizes the growing need for \u201cWe the People\u201d to re-examine public safety in America in accordance with the Second Amendment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forced to close an entire wing of its jail because of a $100 million dollar budget deficit, Oregon\u2019s Lane County<\/a> recently released 100 prisoners from its jail, including several accused killers.\u00a0 Lane County Sheriff Tom Turner, who oversaw the release of the prisoners over a 3-day period, said \u201cIt was horrifying\u2026all the effort to get these people into the jail is now gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the release of the inmates, Lane County also eliminated 64 positions within the sheriff\u2019s department.\u00a0 Twenty-eight deputies were laid off, forcing the sheriff to cut back on patrols.\u00a0 These cutbacks resulted in a 6-to-8-hour time period daily when there is no one available to respond as citizens need help.<\/p>\n

The early release of prisoners to save monies is nothing new, however.\u00a0 In May, Grants Pass, Oregon, was forced to release 39 prisoners as a result of budget deficits.\u00a0 Most of those prisoners were doing time for crimes such as burglary, drugs, and ID theft.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Vermont all released or gave early paroles to inmates simply because those states could no longer afford to house them due to budget cuts and overcrowding.\u00a0 It appears that the early release of inmates and the closings of prisons and jails is becoming the preferred option of choice in dealing with budget crises for many cities and states.<\/p>\n

As more cities and towns across the country face budget crises, more essential services are being cut.\u00a0 According to a 2011 report by the National League of Cities<\/a>, more than 50% of all U.S. cities have either been forced to cut staff, cancel construction projects, or raise their fees.\u00a0 In extreme cases, cities have been forced to file for bankruptcy.\u00a0 Recently, the California cities of Stockton, San Bernardino, and Mammoth Lakes have all filed for bankruptcy\u2014victims of the housing bust, declining revenues, and growing debt.<\/p>\n

America has the largest incarcerated population<\/a> in the world, and it\u2019s costly to provide services for all of these inmates\u2014approximately $60 billion per year and climbing.\u00a0 With both fiscal and personnel cuts, municipalities and states have only a limited number of options to choose from in order to survive.<\/p>\n

One option is to release or give early parole to what might be termed \u201clow-level\u201d criminals from prisons and jails.\u00a0 But can we afford to cut the criminal justice system without compromising public safety?\u00a0 Does early release diminish the deterrent factor behind \u201ccrime and punishment?\u201d\u00a0 Other options include moving prisoners to private facilities or changing laws regarding crimes considered to be \u201cminor.\u201d \u00a0Some of those crimes, which are now punishable with jail sentences, would no longer be considered criminal, lessening the number of arrests and easing the overcrowding issues.<\/p>\n

With budget crises continuing across the country and the probability of additional releases of both \u201clow-level\u201d and violent criminals onto America\u2019s streets, it appears that ordinary citizens may need to take up the slack and become their own line of defense against crime in America.\u00a0 Police protection is a myth and, in reality, police cannot and do not protect everyone from crime in America.\u00a0 When it comes to deterring and defending against crime, it is individuals themselves who are ultimately responsible.<\/p>\n

Yet, Americans continue to believe that all they need for protection is a telephone. Dial 911 and the police will come to your rescue faster than a speeding bullet.\u00a0 Do you want to bet your life on that telephone?\u00a0 Dial 911. The 911 emergency operator never answers because of understaffing and budget cuts or, if someone does answer, doesn\u2019t send anyone because patrols have been cut back.\u00a0 Is this the future of public safety in America?<\/p>\n

Up until the 20th<\/sup> century, most states and local communities dealt with crime at the local levels<\/a>, without the need for \u201clarge-standing support organizations which were funded for that purpose.\u201d\u00a0 It really wasn\u2019t until the 20th<\/sup> century that large public safety agencies took over the roles citizens filled in their communities in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the Second Amendment, along with a well regulated militia, was to allow states and local communities to deal with crime and violence without the need for municipalities to have a large standing support organizations dedicated and funded for this purpose. However, as city revenues and budgets grew larger during the 20th century, the creation of large public safety offices and agencies took over the roles that citizens primarily held in their communities in years past,\u201d says Kenneth Schortgen, Jr. of Examiner.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s time to rethink public safety in America.\u00a0 But in the meantime, dangerous criminals are being released because cities and states can no longer afford to keep them locked up.<\/p>\n

As article appeared on network’s website:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.gcnlive.com\/wp\/2012\/07\/20\/barb-adams-taking-back-america%E2%80%99s-streets\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent release of almost 100 prisoners, including several accused murderers, in Oregon emphasizes the growing need for \u201cWe the People\u201d to re-examine public safety in America in accordance with the Second Amendment. Forced to close an entire wing of its jail because of a $100 million dollar budget deficit, Oregon\u2019s Lane County recently released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}