I agreeto Idea More communtiy service/less jail time for nonviolent offenders.
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More communtiy service/less jail time for nonviolent offenders.

I suggest offenders of nonviolent and less serious crimes are given a choice of massive amounts of community service or a larger sentence/fines. The less people we have in jail means less tax money. The more people we have working on community projects means a healthier community. Basically it’s counterproductive to have someone just sit in a jail cell for selling pot, while they could be heavily engaged in helping the community..

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Submitted by steve 2 years ago

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  1. The Idea titled Review and decriminalize what a person does to him/her-self. was merged with this Idea
    1 year ago
  2. The Idea titled No jail time for simple possession was merged with this Idea
    1 year ago
  3. The Idea titled Eliminate prison for non-violent drug offenders was merged with this Idea
    1 year ago

Comments (22)

  1. Sarajane Siegfriedt

    Eliminate prison time for non-violent drug offenders in favor of drug court, alternative sentencing and community supervision, potentially saving $50 million a year.

    2 years ago
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  2. Tina Mckay

    I agree. Fine the heck out of them and make them perform community service.

    2 years ago
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  3. Rosemary Ryan

    Stop sending people to jail/prison for simple drug possession.

    2 years ago
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  4. Valli Sanstrom

    Pot should be legal, it's medicine for some people.

    Is alcohol considered medicine for anything? It's legal.

    2 years ago
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  5. Hayley

    I think instead of doing time they should just slap them with a HUGE fine. Less people incarserated, less money to buy the drugs and more money coming in due to the fines

    2 years ago
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  6. keith johnstone

    Meth is an awful drug. Sentencing drug addicts to prison isn't the way to combat drug addiction. Meth dealers should get long sentences.

    2 years ago
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  7. Rosemary Ryan

    Dealers should get jail. Addicts should get treatment on demand. Users should pay fines. It costs society too much to incarcerate users who are only harming themselves. This would clear the courts, reduce jail populations, and spare otherwise law-abiding people felony convictions that plague them for the rest of their lives.

    2 years ago
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  8. Rene Sugar

    They signed a law in South Carolina to allow non-violent drug offenders to be eligible for parole or probation and a fine instead of jail.

    The fine is used for drug treatment programs.

    Another alternative would be a fine of $500 per ounce (or some other amount higher than the street price) and being required to complete a drug treatment program. The fines would be used to pay for the drug treatment program.

    http://www.economist.com/node/16636019?story_id=16636019&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe

    "On June 2nd South Carolina joined a growing number of states trying to bring their growing prison population—and the associated costs—to heel by changing the way criminals are sentenced. The bill that Mark Sanford, South Carolina’s Republican governor, signed into law that day, after it sailed through the Republican-dominated legislature, allows non-violent drug offenders to be eligible for parole or probation rather than automatically being sent to prison. It requires drug offenders to pay a fine, which then goes to drug-treatment programmes."

    2 years ago
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  9. Hayley

    Except 90% of pot heads are either lazy or would "forget" to go do there community service due to being too stoned. Of course I believe pot is no better than any other illegal drug and have my own personal views on it, which is not the point of this discussion. I do think it is a good idea for the most part though. Even for first time violent offenders who have served atleast half of thier time or for first time offenders who were minors charged as adults

    2 years ago
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  10. Aquafina Velva

    Good idea. Makes sense.

    2 years ago
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  11. Aquafina Velva

    When are we ever going to get that throwing drug abusers in jail, where they eventually get lost in the system, does more harm than good?

    Go after the suppliers. They are the real enemy.

    2 years ago
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  12. Nikki Jay

    Not only will this help with the community but it will help redirect funds to more needed items instead of the jails. I disagree that "pot heads" would be too lazy or forget, it's probably your own personal biases and experiences with this drug that makes you say that. However if we just legalize marijuana there wouldn't be as much of a problem with non-violent "criminals" taking over our jails in the first place.

    2 years ago
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  13. Hayley

    How many pot heads do you actually know? Everyone that I know is lazy and sounds completely stupid when the try to argue the benefits of it with a nonuser. They just don't realize how stupid they sound. Selling pot is a crime just the same as any other crime. Either way I think this is a good idea for all prisoners that have been in awhile and are doing well.

    2 years ago
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  14. David Olson

    Every line in the budget needs to be scrutinized. One obvious line is "Justice" and Corrections. The USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world. We need to review each crime, who has been victimized and whether the punishment fits the crime. Top of the list should be self-abuse crimes, whose only victim is the defendent. And top of that sub-list should be possession of marijuana. I have a hard time seeing what we as a society gain by locking up otherwise productive not-injuring-anyone-else self-abusers. What a person does with or to him/her-self in his/her own home should be none of the state's business.

    2 years ago
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  15. steve

    Pot was just an example, and no it's not the same as any other crime or drug. Anyone who makes that statement sounds completey stupid. Selling a plant is the same as a guy beating his wife?

    2 years ago
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  16. Hayley

    Oh yes, so much better to sell a drug (plant or not) that will fry someones brain cells. Most dealers don't care where they make their money and that includes schools.

    Two fifths of 8th graders (41%) and almost three fourths of all 10th graders (73%) consider marijuana easily accessible; compare these figures with the percentage of 12th graders – 86%.

    sadd.org

    now tell me again that selling pot is a good idea

    2 years ago
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  17. Bev Walsh

    If it is a first offense, they aren't doing time under the sentencing guidelines, so if they are in jail or prison - it's because they have repeated the same behavior or it is in addition to other illegal behavior or an escalation. Not a cost saving idea. The laws already address first offender waivers, diversion, and other forms of non-incarceration scenarios.

    2 years ago
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  18. steve

    I don’t understand your reasoning. I never said it was a good idea, and once again that is not what this proposed idea is about, so take your crap elsewhere. For the record, most studies in recent years have shown there is no brain cell loss from marijuana, as well as no association with lung cancer. In 2003 DSHS actually patented it for its antioxidant properties- check it out

    http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nphParser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN%2F6630507&RS=PN%2F6630507

    The fact that so many youth have experimented highlights a larger societal problem. It’s easy for them to get a hold of because their peers sell it, and that will never be stopped. However, if it were sold in stores, dealers would be put out of business and we would have age regulations. And YES, it is much more serious if a guy beats his wife than someone selling a drug as harmless and common (40% of Americans have admitted use- www.drugabuse.gov/.../marijuana/Marijuana2.html) as pot.

    2 years ago
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  19. Hayley

    In case you forgot, which is common a common pot head behavior, the original quote was about pot heads doing community service. As for the effects

    Not surprisingly, marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. Research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off.2 As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all ohttp://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/marijuana.htmlf the time.

    2 years ago
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  20. steve

    Alright I'm done, your an idiot. IT was not about pot. Pot is the example I used. Nice copy and paste by the way.

    2 years ago
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  21. steve

    I believe this is the one you want to comment on, it's ranked #1.

    http://transformwabudget.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Legalizing-Marijuana/57951-9567

    2 years ago
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  22. David K.

    Without a distinction between victimless crimes and non-violent crimes with victims this idea overlooks very important distinctions that make intelligent discussion difficult. This seems to be partly an artifact of the site administrators propensity for merging ideas that have significant differences.

    2 years ago
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