Posted on 05/23/2011 5:13:03 PM PDT by Kaslin
Justice: A 5-4 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has just ordered California to empty its prisons of nearly a third of its prisoners because of overcrowding. The state's law-abiding citizens should be afraid — very afraid.
As is often the case these days on the supposedly conservative court — it's not — the Brown v. Plata decision was made by four liberal justices, and one "conservative" swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion.
In it, Kennedy asserted that the overcrowding has caused "needless suffering and death," upholding a decision by the notoriously wacky Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a long, inglorious record of deciding cases based on politics, not actual law.
The decision, in effect, overturns the landmark Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, without actually declaring it unconstitutional.
The problem with the Supreme Court's decision is that, in order to fix a problem that the state itself can fix given time, the court has once again stepped into a state's business and mandated a solution.
Currently, according to the Los Angeles Times, California has somewhere around 142,000 felons behind bars. It has already taken 9,000 out of its prison system and placed them into county jails.
Now, under the court's decision, the total will have to be reduced by as much as another 32,000 — perhaps more. That means lots of criminals walking the streets.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
The NFL strike makes this even worse.
Well, enjoy your trip home for sure!
I don’t envy your position at all.
Rock and hard...
Keep your eyes peeled when they let the thugs out, stay safe.
HaHaHaHaHaHa -
it will be a magnet for the bad guys from all states! Like Disneyland...NO law enforcement, no guns, no prisoners. Go west young crook! It will be fun!
So now the “needless suffering and death” can be inflcted upon the general populace ?
The lack of prision space is the fault of the CA legislature, not the judicial/police system. Its most certainly not the fault of Joe/Jane Taxpayer who stand to bear the brunt of this fiasco......
[Brainfart] why not ship all the releasees to the neighborhoods of past/present legislators ? >PS
There’s a federal law that punishes you severely for doing that, but if the ACLU is the “lawyer of record” it’s fair to let the prisoners know who their benefactors are, and more or less invite them over for more stuff ~ a few beers, hospitality, a hot shower, a room ~ drive their cars even~
Why, oh why do they call them “justices” ?
The state of CA needs to stand down the Court. Just keep the prisoners locked up and dare them to do something about it.
Thats what I was thinking. Probably half of these prisoners are illegals. They ought to call ICE and tell them to come and get them for deportation.
Reminds me of the movie “Escape from LA”... sequel to “Escape from New York”.
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