Date sent: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 05:22:51 +0000 Subject: EFFECTIVE JUSTICE NEWSLETTER #3 Send reply to: fedup@flash.net Priority: normal (recipient list suppressed) CITIZENS FOR EFFECTIVE JUSTICE (CFEJ) NEWSLETTER #3 Hello, This is NOT a "spam" -- if you are reading this, we have either been in contact via e-mail; or, you signed up for this through my old "get remind" newsletter link. If your address wound up in the wrong folder and you do not want to be on this list, please e-mail me with "REMOVE" in the subject line. ******************************************************************** It's come to my attention that some of you, in spite of the above statement, have mistaken this for "spam" and deleted the previous issues. In the near future, I'll be posting the back issues in .txt form at: http://www.reducecrime.org/newsltrs Since some of you might not even be getting this far, however, if we haven't been in recent contact, please drop me a note to let me know you are getting this. In about a week, I'll go through and spend a couple of days comparing these replies to the list and try to notify those of you whom I haven't heard from. ********************************************************************* THE BATTLE OVER CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: Its seems like every day I hear more and more examples of how the battle against crime is being turned into a battle to limit the Constitutional rights of everyone. Be it restrictive gun laws, violations of our personal privacy rights, curtailment of due process guarantees, or other such issues which are now being routinely reported in the mainstream media as "solutions," the common denominators seem to be that they affect almost everyone else more than they affect criminals and they pose an extremely "slippery slope" which is FAR more dangerous than the simple solutions which we are working towards. Even if we temporarily ignore the fact that corporal sentencing was the norm at the time of the Bill of Rights and continued to be the norm, totally unaffected by the 8th Amend. for a very long time, any clear thinking person should be able to see that it is far less of a threat to punish a convicted criminal in an effective manner than it is to nibble away at the entire Bill of Rights. Every time you read or hear of a new law or court decision which erodes our rights, try asking yourself if would ever be tolerates it if crime was not the issue upon which it was founded. In most cases, the answer will be a resounding "NO WAY!!!" The sooner we can implement measures which affect ONLY those who have been duly tried and convicted, the better our chances of preserving our liberties and our ability to defend them.. A few years ago, I had a copy of document which described much of the sentiment at the time at which the 8th Amendment was being discussed. In it, the author expressed his concerns that it might, someday, be misinterpreted as a prohibition of corporal sentences and stating how this would be a grave error for country to make. I believe this was contained in one of the Federalist Papers and was written by either James Madison or Thomas Jefferson; but, as long as it's been, I'm not certain of those identifying points. If any of you can place this document, please help me to track down a copy. ******************************************************************** INTERESTING LINKS WHICH SUPPORT THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF PRISON: http://www.britcoun.org.br/s_andrew.htm http://www.state.mt.us/leg/branch/cor_rpt7.htm ******************************************************************** WEB PAGES WHICH HAVE EITHER BEEN ADDED OR MODIFIED SINCE THE LAST NEWSLETTER: The CFEJ web site has undergone a LOT of changes since the last issue of the newsletter! Since I usually work on it after getting the mail caught up, I'm usually pretty tired when I'm doing it and get cross-eyed fairly quickly from staring at HTML code; so, if you run into any "404 errors" (bad links), PLEASE e-mail me and tell me which links you had problems with. (OR, any "typos," incomplete sentences, etc... ) The "front page" has both a whole new look and a much better defined theme. Jump over to: http://www.reducecrime.org/index.html It has also been modified to reflect the recent change to an honor based download system, as have the pointer pages over at the old http://www.flash.net/~fedup web site. There's now a link over to the photo page from the http://www.flash.net/~fedup/e-book directory index. A page directed at attornies and judges has been added at: http://www.reducecrime.org/atty.htm It still needs a LOT of work; so, I welcome all the input I can get on how to improve it (even if you aren't an attorney or a judge...) A new page has been added which addresses some of the issues which come up with some regularity if the "hatemail" I occasionally receive. It's also intended to be a useful resource for countering some of the more arguments you might encounter when discussing this plan with your friends and acquaintances; so, check it out even if you're 100% in favor of this plan. It's (rather appropriately) located on a page which I named: http://www.reducecrime. org/hatemail.htm I've made a few changes to both the: http://www.reducecrime. org/faq.htm and the http://www.reducecrime. org/applica.htm pages, as well. ***************************************************************** HUMOR -- This issues "dumb criminal" stories are drawn from:my external links page: http://www.reducecrime.org Arizona: A company called "Guns For Hire" stages gunfights for Western movies, etc. One day, they received a call from a 47-year- old woman, who wanted to have her husband killed. She got 4-1/2 years in jail. Texas: A man convicted of robbery worked out a deal to pay $9600 in damages rather than serve a prison sentence. For payment, he provided the court a check -- a *forged* check. He got 10 years. (Location Unknown): A man went into a drug store, pulled a gun, announced a robbery, and pulled a Hefty-bag face mask over his head -- and realized that he'd forgotten to cut eye holes in the mask. (Location Unknown): A man successfully broke into a bank after hours and stole -- are you ready for this? -- the bank's video camera. While it was recording. Remotely. (That is, the videotape recorder was located elsewhere in the bank, so he didn't get the videotape of himself stealing the camera. The police, however, *did*.) North Carolina*: A man successfully broke into a bank's basement through a street-level window, cutting himself up pretty badly in the process. He then realized that (1) he could not get to the money from where he was, (2) he could not climb back out the window through which he had entered, and (3) he was bleeding pretty badly. So he located a phone and dialled "911" for help ... ******************************************************************** Feel free to pass this newsletter along to your friends. Remember, I need the help of all of you to make this newsletter interesting to read... Please pass along: any information which you feel is interesting and relevant to the issue of making our criminal justice system more effective, any interesting proposed legislation, "editorials" related to the need for C.A.S. laws, entertaining "dumb criminal" stories, or your suggestions for material to include in this fledgling newsletter. If I think it's appropriate, I'll include it. To retain confidentiality, if you send me something you'd like included in the newsletter, please include a note to that effect and letting me know if you want your name, e-mail address, etc. included. If you send me any copyrighted material, please include the information necessary for me to contact the copyright holder for permission to "reprint" it in the newsletter ********************************************************** "FED UP" with crime and prison overcrowding??? Together, we CAN make a difference... http://www.reducecrime.org (405) 722-3633 **********************************************************