Should Superior Court Judges be allowed to serve life terms? Should physical and/or psychological health be a consideration? This is a rare position that entitles the person to a lifetime position, no questions asked.
I explore this topic in the March issue of Guilty As Charged, which is now up on my site. Share your thoughts – take the poll at the end of the article!
www.QuietFuryBooks.com/newsletters.html
Newsweek had an article about DNA exonerations. Since the late ’90s, hundreds of convicted inmates have been found innocent through DNA technology. (Texas holds the record with 38 overturned convictions.) That, in itself, is not unexpected. We all know that lots of innocent people are in prison (and lots of guilty people are roaming free). What I found truly interesting is that almost 80-percent of those wrongly accused were first pointed out by eyewitnesses (either photo or in-person line-ups). I’ve read psychological studies on this issue and I knew that eyewitnesses were not particularly reliable. But 80-percent of the screw-ups is an enormous percentage!
A special panel is currently studying the factors involved in wrongful convictions. This fall, the panel will issue their recommendations. Until then, maybe we should all start paying closer attention. And, if we aren’t sure of something, it’s probably wise to simply keep our mouths shut.
In 2009, 52 people were put to death in the U.S. Of those, 51 received lethal injections and one (in Virginia) was electrocuted. I’m curious how you all feel about the death penalty. I’ve designed a poll and would love to get your input. You can only vote once, so make it count!
The March/April issue of Mother Jones has a short list of weird liquor laws. I got a chuckle from a few and thought I’d share them with you.
Alaska: No alcohol sales between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Evidently, that 3 hour break is when you’re supposed to eat breakfast and sober up before starting over.
Florida: Boozing may be prohibited during hurricanes.
I live in Florida. People here have hurricane parties and I’m pretty sure they are not alcohol-free.
Georgia: Public drunkenness is illegal, but drinking in public is fine.
Hmm…
Oklahoma: Stores must sell alcoholic drinks at room temperature.
Does this mean there is no such thing as a frozen pina colada in Oklahoma?
South Carolina: No liquor sold on Election Day.
If ever there was a day that deserved alcohol, this is the one.
I have just listed a new 48-Hour Book Giveaway contest! This time I will be giving away a signed copy of my novel Enemies and Playmates. To enter, fill out the form on my contest page. This contest runs between 1:00 PM EST on Sunday, February 21 and 1:00 PM EST on Tuesday, February 23. It’s open to everyone 16 and older in the U.S. and Canada. Please enter only once per person.
Good luck!
www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html
The trailer for my novel Beyond Salvation is in need of votes! It’s listed here: http://yougottareadvideos.blogspot.com/
All you need to do is click on #15 (Beyond Salvation) in the list on the right side. No registration, signing in, or membership needed.
I need all the votes I can get. Thank you!
Sex offenders are a frequent topic of discussion in the news here in Florida. We have all kinds of laws about where they can and cannot live, which is good, to a point. The thing is, unless we plan to keep them in jail for life, then we have to allow them to live somewhere.
A registered sex offender can be anyone from a man who took a drunken dare and publicly flashed to a hard-core, repeat rapist. A recent phenomenon is older teenage boys who receive, via their cell phones, a naked or near naked photo from an underage girl. The girl willingly sends the photo, which might or might not have been requested. The boy is caught with the photo and arrested for a sex crime. He is then forced to register, for the rest of his life, as a sex offender. Fair? I don’t think so. But it happens. And these kids are lumped in with the rapists and true child molesters.
In Florida, not only do sex offenders have to register where they live but they are also prohibited from living in certain areas. We have what are called “buffer zones” that surround schools, parks, daycares and other areas where children would be. These buffer zones are off limits for sex offenders.
Depending on the county, the buffer zone can be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 feet. Because there are so many schools, parks, and daycares, the buffer zones overlap and take up huge amounts of the cities and towns. This is what the government officials want. They are trying to run the sex offenders out of Florida. No one wants them in their neighborhood, after all. The government is only doing what the people want.
Is it working? In a way, yes. Many neighborhoods now have no registered sex offenders. However, these men are not leaving Florida. They are living in congregated spaces; a sort of sex offender commune. Rather than having a dozen of these men (or women) spread out in one city, we have them all in one apartment building or home. They now have a support network. I’m not sure I find it comforting that 20 sex offenders are all living together in one place. That’s sort of like having a bunch of murderers living together, sharing ideas. A little unnerving.
We also have sex offenders among the homeless. We’ve effectively run them out onto the streets. They live under bridges, in the woods, in tent cities. We’ve managed to make them angrier, desperate, helpless. We’ve stuck them all together where they can vent about the injustice. We haven’t helped them. We certainly haven’t rehabilitated them.
I don’t personally have an answer. I do think it’s time we distinguished between a man whose crime was indecent exposure and a man who raped a 10-year-old. These men do have to live somewhere. Unless we are willing to fund halfway houses where these men can live – and be supervised – then we need to deal with the fact that they exist in our cities. We’ll either have a few scattered around or a commune full of them in one localized spot. I guess your viewpoint depends on whether you live in the protected buffer zones or beside the commune.
Today I have the pleasure of hosting the multi-talented author, Helena Harper. She has published two books that are poetry collections: It’s a Teacher’s Life…! and Family and More – Enemies or Friends? ,which have been inspired by her professional and personal life. Illustrations for her first children’s picture book are now being done. Her aim is to see the book in print before the year is out.
Helena has written an article to share with us today:
School Heads – a bane or a blessing?
In my twenty years as a secondary school teacher, I’ve worked under five different Heads, and all of them except one (who left after I’d been at the school for only one term!) have most definitely been a bane. The problems I’ve encountered with Heads seem to be very widespread, according to what I hear from fellow teachers. Why is this so? What is it that seems to lead, almost inevitably, to Heads behaving like petty dictators, who can’t tolerate an ounce of criticism and – at the first sign of such – like a painter with his canvas ‘brush out what they don’t want to see’ (from my book It’s a Teacher’s Life!).
What leads to Heads being apparently bereft of moral conscience, treating teachers (and sometimes parents as well) without compassion, destroying their self-esteem, and putting ever-increasing workloads on their shoulders through crisis management and a total inability to plan effectively and organise themselves and their resources efficiently?
Here in the U.K., the board of governors of each school is responsible for appointing a new Head and from my personal experience, they frequently do a very bad job! Perhaps because they believe they know best and won’t see behind the facade that a candidate puts up (despite the advice of an experienced, outgoing Head); or perhaps because the majority of governors aren’t teachers and have no real idea what teaching is all about; or perhaps they just choose someone to fill the post, whether the person is suitable or not, because they can’t face going through the whole process again! It’s not unusual for the selection procedure to be repeated because of a lack of good quality candidates.
Even if the appointment of a Head is initially welcomed by staff, when the person actually gets into the job, there can be a rude awakening. It seems almost as though the position corrupts. As a colleague of mine has often said – Heads have too much autonomy, there aren’t enough checks and balances, and it goes to their heads. Perhaps, also, there isn’t enough training for new Heads to learn about the management demands made on them, and someone who is a wonderful teacher won’t necessarily be a good manager, and a good Head definitely needs to be both!
Being a Head is certainly not an easy position to hold. Perhaps certain Heads resort to being bullying despots simply to cover up their inadequacy and feelings of insecurity in the job. All the more reason, therefore, for the selection procedure to ensure the right person is chosen. I think in the U.K. the selection procedure definitely needs to be reformed and the staff in each school should be involved in the process. Prospective candidates need to make a presentation to governors, but why can’t they do this to the staff as a whole? When there are school inspections, the whole staff meets the team of inspectors informally over tea. Why can’t there be something similar for headship candidates? Why should it all be left up to the governors to decide?
These are just suggestions, but I believe something needs to be done to ensure that the person who is given the job, is someone
“who’ll know what it means
to be a boss;
someone who remembers
what it’s like to be human,
who can manage
resources and people
with realistic sympathy
and organized efficiency,
someone who creates
real, genuine respect —
but who am I kidding?
That’s the stuff of fiction, isn’t it,
not fact?”
(from “The Boss” in my book Family & More)
My hope is that one day that will be much more fact than fiction in the majority of schools.
—–
Helena would love to hear from you! You can find her, as well as information on her books and where to purchase them, in the following places:
Email: webmaster@helenaharper.com
Helena’s website: http://www.helenaharper.com
Helen’s Authorsden website: http://www.authorsden.com/helenaharper
Helena’s blog: http://helenaharpersblog.blogspot.com
Follow Helena on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/helenaharper
And here’s a glimpse at Helena’s Books. Click on the covers to purchase! (Family & More is currently available in e-book format only. The paperback version will be out soon!)
My thanks to Helena for being my guest today! Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions for Helena.
I’m a peace-loving hippie – or so I’m described by my children and my husband. I’m not aggressive and I don’t like to fight. I’m not pro-war. All of this is why I sometimes find my writing process disturbing. And, no, I don’t mean that it disturbs me to write aggressive or twisted scenes. Actually, it’s quite the contrary.
Yesterday, I was writing a rather creepy scene from a killer’s perspective. As I was writing, I realized that I was happy. This is what I found disturbing. How can I enjoy writing a murder scene when the core of my being wants to “Give peace a chance.”
I could rationalize and say that it’s the writing process that makes me happy. And it does. But that would be ignoring the fact that the particular scene I was writing made me happy in a specific way. Of course, I would not want to be that killer. I certainly would not want to be the victim. I would find absolutely no joy in the scene becoming a reality. So why the happiness?
I think I enjoy the process of stepping completely outside of my comfort zone – of becoming someone the polar opposite of my real self. In this way, I can release all of my frustrations and irritations without ever really hurting anyone. I can feel what it’s like to unleash all that rage. I can be the bad guy for a brief moment in time and gain a brief glimpse into their world.
Maybe we should teach people to write murder scenes as a deterrent to committing real-life murders. It’s worth a try, right? 
An interview with mystery author Janet Evanovich, conducted by Time Magazine, that I found on YouTube.
