[*BCM*] Cyclist foils heist, Boston Phoenix 9/28

[michaela]

I agree with the sentiment in this letter.
I know it REALLY SUCKS to have your bike stolen, but it sucks a lot more to
go to jail when what you need is the kind of rehabilitation (whether
drug-related or just help getting one's life back on track) that we don't
really have, at least for the most part, in this country.

I'm not sure how much I support singling out this guy, just because it is
about bikes and it is important to us/progressive/whatever to be riding
bikes, and acting as though there is something heroic happening in this
story, when the reality is that, for better or for worse, whatever happens
to this guy will probably be some kind of tragedy, be it small or large, and
I don't think we should wish that upon someone just because they messed with
OUR stuff.

As a person who thinks our whole "justice" system is incredibly unfair and
corrupt, and that personal property is way overrated, I don't think that
going to the police is usually a good solution to a problem, especially one
which involves property theft, as it has a tendency to destroy other
people's lives in ways we might not be fully aware of.

-Michaela

On 9/28/07, Paul Centro <gh3451 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> It might have been interesting if someone had spoken to James Johnson, the
> alleged perp, for his side of the story.  While I do not know his
> circumstances, let me suggest an alternative read for stories such as this:
>
> -Drug addict in the throes of addiction needs money for a fix.  John Doe
> of Boston who has been unable to find steady employment due to arrests in
> his youth for minor offenses finds himself in increasingly desperate
> circumstances.  What started out as recreational use of cocaine has become a
> $50 a day methamphetamine addiction.  "I'd like to kick, but I cannot afford
> treatment and all of the subsidized slots are filled," says Mr. Doe.
>
> "I'm really sorry about the bike, and you have to understand how desperate
> I am, I'm looking at 2 years in jail due to prior convictions.  Running is
> the only choice I have right now."
>
> Is this so far fetched?  I would argue that most of the property crime in
> this city is perpetrated for just such reasons.  Can we feel good that this
> person was caught?  What's to become of him?  Jail at 40k+ a year with no
> rehab or job training at worst, unable to work because of a CORI that will
> follow him for the rest of his life and vote dis-enfranchisement at best is
> what it looks like to me.  All this for a bike?  I see no justice here.
>
> Make no mistake, we pay for folks to use drugs and crime is the method of
> payment.  Drug laws have a human cost and I think it's time for a little
> empathy in place of punishment.  I am disappointed that someone
> involved with Critical Mass is so stoked at the result.  If these folks are
> unable to see beneath the surface of things, who is?
>
> Peter McNeff,
> Jamaica Plain
>
>
>
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>
>
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-- 
"Authoritarian, paralysing, circular, occasionally elliptical, stock
phrases, also jocularly referred to as nuggets of wisdom, are a malignant
plague, one of the very worst ever to ravage the earth."
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