Republican Senator Kevin Mannix has blogged today about the topic of last week’s Brewhaha, his controversial mandatory minimum sentencing ballot measure that could mean harsh sentences for first time offenders, without the probability of drug treatment. His post is remarkable, if only for its Miltonian logic:

But, what taxpayers want is to save their own money – not to give the legislature the opportunity to spend public safety dollars on something else. Many studies have shown that failing to remove serious criminals from the streets costs citizens more per person than actively incarcerating the prisoners. That is, for each dollar the state spends incarcerating bad guys, citizens save more than that dollar in reduced society costs. The most obvious costs are the direct costs imposed on crime victims, but society pays other costs: security services, alarm systems, increased insurance rates, increased costs of goods as merchants recover for thievery, increased costs for identity theft protection programs, etc.

The problem being that the cost of incarcerating people under Mannix’s new bill ranges from $200-$400m. So it’s not going to save anybody any money. In fact, it’s going to bankrupt the state. The only way you can stop it is by voting for the alternative measure, 1087, come November.

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

4 replies on “Mannix Writes On Mandatory Minimums”

  1. Note that that $200 million to $400 million amount that has been tossed around only covers the expected increase in operating budget for the Dept. of Corrections. That doesn’t include the cost of new prisons, the costs to counties in the form of DA costs or the costs to the state indigent defense fund.

  2. Sir:

    Note that Kevin Mannix is a neo-Nazi jerk.

    And that’s giving him credit.

    I remain disgusted by the shallowness and pandering nature of the man.

    Jacomus

  3. Why did the legislature give me the choice between a bad law (theirs) and a worse law (Mannix’s)? Why can’t I vote for a good law for a change? I’m tired of scapegoaters who don’t trust our 200+ year old legal system to sort the bad guys from the screw-ups.

    It is getting to the point that if the police notice you, eventually you end up in jail.

    I’ve been mugged before, I’ve been assaulted from behind while riding my bike. Do I think that the perpetrators should spend 10-20 years in prison? God no!

    The punishment is getting to be cruel and unusual in this country- we imprison more people than any other country in the world, can we really call ourselves the land of the free?

    Also Mr. Mannix isn’t a Nazi, neo or otherwise. He is just a pandering piece of shit.

    I now take this chance to apologize to my Mother for my offensive language.

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