A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

Reintegrating Convicts

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Laura Misjak has an article in the Indianapolis Star about the troubles of ex-convicts in finding jobs once they get out. This is something I come across a lot since one of my collection clients is the county’s community corrections program. The people from whom I’m trying to collect in that situation are, by definition, convicts of one sort or another. Frankly, I have been impressed by the numbers who do manage to find work. The personalities of ex-convicts are pretty much as broad as the personalities of people generally, but one “kind” of convict I run across with some frequency is the guy who has really grown up because of the experience — just focused on working hard and extricating himself from the mess. (There are plenty who are still making excuses and complaining about how hard life is; possibly true, but irrelevant.)

Anyway, the article reports that the Indy City-County Council is looking at incentives to employers to get them to hire ex-convicts.

City-County Councilwoman Marilyn Pfisterer is trying to ease the way for those with felony records: She is sponsoring an ordinance to give businesses that hire them an upper hand when bidding on city or county contracts.

. . .

With fines, probation, child support and other costs, the average debt for those coming out of prison in Indianapolis is $28,000, Keesling said. In other words, finding a job is important.

“We’ve got to provide a person a fighting chance to do the right thing and this bill will do that,” he said.

The biggest problem I would have with this sort of legislation is if it would disadvantage potential employees who didn’t commit any crimes. If I were a law-abiding guy looking for work, I’d be pissed if I got passed up for a job because the government created a preference for convicts.

I don’t have any clue how such a thing would be implemented, but I would suggest something along the lines of an insurance program that reduces the risk to employers for hiring convicts – something that doesn’t necessarily give an advantage to employers for hiring convicts, but takes away the disadvantage.

Dogma in Muncie

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In my ever so humble opinion, this article on religion in the Muncie Star Press is a jumble of vague language. I suspect the author is capable enough but is dancing around some uncomfortable truths.

The article says that Americans are “less dogmatic” about religious beliefs than they used to be but that might not be the case in Muncie.

[I]n Muncie, where Christian attitudes are dominant with limited voices from other religions, the path to eternal life continues to be in traditional beliefs.

Oh, so Catholicism? That’s pretty traditional – not like that Johnny-come-lately rabble rouser, Martin Luther. And don’t get me started on that radical John Calvin. Talk about your non-traditional iconoclasts. But, we don’t really get a hint from the article about what constitutes “tradition.”

Another winning passage:

Charlotte Overmeyer, associate pastor of High Street United Methodist Church, agrees with the importance of learning about other faiths and though she stands strong in her Christian beliefs and that path for eternal life, she doesn’t find harm in discussions alternative faiths. In fact, she, like some other religious leaders, would like to see more religious diversity in Muncie.

“Diversity is kind of exciting to me, to meet people of other faiths,” she said. “Can I listen to other people? Can I explore what other people believe? I’m not threatened by that. I’m glad for the discussion.”

I’m completely thrown by the phrase “that path for eternal life.” Which path to eternal life is that? Adherence to Methodist teachings? And what of those people of diverse faith? Are they off the path? And, if so, are they just on the planet to provide exciting discussions for true believers before they go to hell?

As to the central point of diversity, I think a certain degree of self-righteousness has to be built into the DNA of any religion, otherwise it doesn’t survive through the ages. I’ve found the notion of memetics to be helpful in thinking about religions and their component beliefs. With memetics, religions and other ideas act in many respects like independent organisms; using people as sort of hosts that assist in replication. Like any other organism, religions have to look out for their own integrity so they can be replicated from host to host in substantially the same form. A successful religion pretty much has to have a mechanism for rejecting foreign invaders — like white blood cells in the human body, equipped to destroy pathogens.

If a religion, as an organism, doesn’t have mechanisms built in to ensure replication in substantially its original form, it will dissipate and cease to exist in a recognizable form. Consequently, a successful religion is not likely to hold as a central tenet that any old religion will get you to heaven. There would be no impetus for people to pass the religion to other people intact. A religion that specifies that its adherents are going to heaven and adherents of other religions are going to hell has a competitive advantage in the ecosystem of ideas — up to a point. Once competing adherents start killing each other off, the religions start losing overall adherents. Sort of like when the white blood cells in the body get out of control, causing more problems than they’re solving.

Second Amendment: Individual Right to Bear Arms

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The Supreme Court has issued another 5-4 opinion, this one addressing the Second Amendment which the Supreme Court has long dodged. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion, joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy. I’ve only read the syllabus, but generally, it appears that the Court is recognizing an individual right to bear arms as opposed to one conditioned on being in a militia. To me, this has always seemed like the correct way to parse the text of the amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The Court decided that the prefatory language announces a purpose, but does not limit the scope of the right. The Second Amendment right is not an unlimited right to possess any weapon one chooses for any reason, but rather those in “common use” for “common purposes.” The gist of the opinion seems to be that people have to be allowed to have ordinary weapons for lawful purposes such as “self-defense” and laws that make those weapons useless for self-defense are unconstitutional. The court specifies that the opinion should not be read as casting doubt on prohibitions on possession of weapons by felons and the mentally ill. D.C.’s trigger lock ordinance was found to be unconstitutional because it rendered permissible weapons useless for self-defense in the home.

That was my take based on a quick reading of the syllabus. If you see something more reliable elsewhere, you’ll probably want to go with that. From the syllabus, anyway, it seems like a reasonable decision. I’ll have to read the dissents to see if they change my mind.

The Media

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I’ll indulge here in a bit of a screed against “The Media.” The trouble with such screeds, of course, is that “The Media” is not monolithic and not all media is created equal. But there seem to be certain tendencies in the “mainstream media” (another amorphous entity) which I find objectionable. To drill down even further, my annoyance generally centers on “pack reporting tendencies in television and newspaper political news and punditry operations.” But that’s more of a mouthful than “The Media.”

One tendency is the “Christians are Republicans” narrative. Craig at Reverent & Free has a nice post that highlights James Dobson’s latest antics which contribute to that narrative. To maintain this narrative, you have to favor “the right kind” of Christianity and discount “the wrong kind.” Much of Dobson and his ilk’s power in the political discourse comes from “The Media’s” assumption that guys like Dobson are entitled to speak “for Christians.” After the Reformation, Christianity shattered into a million little pieces, making a centralized voice for the faith problematic.

The words and actions of Dr. Dobson illuminate further the problems that arise when politics and religion collide. Dobson’s interpretations of scripture are specific to his own particular sect of Christianity. Dobson was offended because Barack Obama dared give voice to a worship of Christ that doesn’t involve deference to the standard GOP issues, specifically same-sex marriage, abortion, and prayer in schools.

Will “The Media” get down in the Biblical weeds and try to determine who has the better of the argument vis-a-vis the teachings of Jesus? Of course not. If we’re lucky – something about which I’m not confident – they will at least avoid characterizing this as a battle between “real Dobsonian-Republican Christians” and “pseudo-Christian Democrats.”

My other recent annoyance with “The Media” comes from their discussion of “independent” political groups with particular focus on the Swiftboaters who attacked John Kerry in the fall. The general punditry discourse about the Swiftboaters has completely ignored The Media’s role in giving Swiftboaters power. On their own, the Swiftboaters were just spitting in the ocean; another bunch of cranks pissed off at Democrats, making spurious charges. But, The Media lent the group its power. It’s a little like a virus that invades the body and uses the body’s apparatus to reproduce itself. The discussion of the Swiftboaters has generally been devoid of analysis about how and why the Media allowed itself to be infected.

Crime Costs

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When the legislature passes criminal laws (and, let’s be fair, when citizens break those laws), it creates a cost to local government. To deal with some of those costs, Delaware County is considering a program for non-violent offenders that will get take them out of jail and put them on probation. So far this year, Delaware County has spent $345,000 housing inmates outside of its jail because there was not enough room. So, the county is considering putting inmates awaiting trial on C & D level felony charges on a probation-like program.

The terms of pre-trial probation are still a work in progress, Vorhees said.

The probationers would likely report to their probation officers daily in the weeks after their release with reporting requirements tapering as time passed.

“It’s going to be a pretty intensive situation for them,” Vorhees said.

Those on probation would be subject to drug screens and would be required to enter counseling if they have addiction problems.

Anyone who violates the terms of probation or is arrested again would return to jail.

However, probation is not without its costs. The Journal & Courier reports on the Tippecanoe County probation department’s request for seven new positions. These new employees are necessary to monitor compliance with the terms of probation. The article on the proposed Delaware County program suggests that the costs would be offset by user fees. But, a lot of probation fees go unpaid, and the cost of re-incarcerating the individual for a probation violation is more than the unpaid fees. (Leaving aside, for a moment, the specter of debtor’s prisons).

Just an aside here – as I wrote this, my intent was a focus on the expense to local government imposed by decisions made by state officials – but the more I think about “pre-trial probation,” the more it bothers me; and maybe it stems from lack of a clear understanding of the criminal law. Pre-trial detainees have not been convicted of anything. They’re innocent until proven guilty. However, bail can still be required to ensure their appearance at trial and based on the danger the accused poses to the community. I believe the pre-trial detainees eligible for this pre-trial probation department would be those eligible for bail but unable or unwilling to post the bond. Letting them out, even with frequent monitoring, seems to be an admission that they aren’t that great of a flight risk and not a danger to the community — which raises the question, was bail appropriate in the first place?

Higher Interstate Speeds != More Deaths

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A Purdue University study suggests that higher Interstate speeds has not lead to more Interstate deaths.

Before the move was approved in 2005, legislators heard concerns that allowing speed limits on rural portions of interstates to rise from 65 mph would increase the danger for motorists.

Fatalities on those highways, however, did not increase because drivers were already going faster than the speed limit, and the differences in drivers’ speeds were lowered, said Fred Mannering, a civil engineering professor at Purdue who was the study’s co-author.

The 70 mph speed limit was enacted by Senator Server’s SEA 217-2005.

My personal experience is, as Professor Mannering suggests, that the difference in speed is more significant than the speed itself. It’s always startling to see a car in front of you and find that you’re closing on it much more rapidly than you expected. I don’t know about others, but I find that I always feel like I’m more comfortable driving when I’m moving slightly faster than the average vehicle. If I’m doing that, it seems like most of my hazards are in front of me since fewer cars are closing on me from behind. Also, it feels like I spend lest time hemmed in by other traffic. And, with this approach, I emphatically am not recommending the practice of living in the left hand lane, moving 1 mile per hour faster than the guy in the right hand lane. That drives me nuts. When you catch up to the guy in front of you, get left, pass quickly, then get the heck over to the right again.

Just some friendly driving tips from a guy who has no particular business giving them.

Donahue Stepping Down from the DOC

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J. David Donahue has resigned his post as head of the Indiana Department of Corrections and will return to this native Kentucky. Any of his accomplishments in that post have been overshadowed by the New Castle Prison Riot in April of last year which was caused by importing too many Arizona inmates to be housed as a money making scheme for the state without sufficient planning.

From the Scientific Journal: “Duh”

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To balance out the serious discussion of the soul, I figured I’d link to a study on more temporal matters:
Nice guys really do finish last.

NICE guys knew it, now two studies have confirmed it: bad boys get the most girls. The finding may help explain why a nasty suite of antisocial personality traits known as the “dark triad” persists in the human population, despite their potentially grave cultural costs.

The traits are the self-obsession of narcissism; the impulsive, thrill-seeking and callous behaviour of psychopaths; and the deceitful and exploitative nature of Machiavellianism. At their extreme, these traits would be highly detrimental for life in traditional human societies. People with these personalities risk being shunned by others and shut out of relationships, leaving them without a mate, hungry and vulnerable to predators.

But being just slightly evil could have an upside: a prolific sex life, says Peter Jonason at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. “We have some evidence that the three traits are really the same thing and may represent a successful evolutionary strategy.”

Jonason and his colleagues subjected 200 college students to personality tests designed to rank them for each of the dark triad traits. They also asked about their attitudes to sexual relationships and about their sex lives, including how many partners they’d had and whether they were seeking brief affairs.

What’s more, this tendency holds true across cultures. But, don’t worry nice guys, I’ve read that women tend to prefer nice guys for child rearing and family support purposes.