In the past few years, crime rates have been gone way up. I wonder why? I think the fact that it is now very rare that a person gets the punishment they deserve plays a very major role. Same with some people that seem to get away with tons of very serious stuff before being put in jail for a longer time than you go on vacation.

Personally, I like the idea of "an eye for an eye,” you kill someone, you get killed. When I brought this up with some family friends, they replied, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” The truth is, it doesn't. Criminals won't break laws for fear of their punishment. Sure, some people will break the law still, but others will see how severely they were punished and most likely choose against it.  

Another really big issue with our prison system is that prisons and jails are starting to look more and more like vacation spots. You get free food, a place to sleep, TV, dental and medical, which most law abiding citizens don't even have!

 

We received an e-mail once about a sheriff in Arizona that ran a very successful prison. I liked his ideas a lot:

1) He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

2) He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails, and took away their weightlifting equipment and cut off all but "G" movies ("Little Mermaid", Pinochio, Pooh Bear", etc.).

3) He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects (removal of graffiti is a good option).

4) Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

5) He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again only allowed the Disney channel and the weather channel (when asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on the chain gangs).

6) He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.

7) When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz-Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back...It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!"

Way to go, Sheriff!  

Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime or at least less repeat offenders.  

Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

Even though most of the facts came in a chain e-mail, I checked their veracity. This is true (snopes.com), and I definitely agree with a different view in punishment.

Angelina Gervasio is a seventh-grader at Redwood Middle School in Napa. She writes weekly, when she's caught up on homework, on a variety of topics.