Am I an asshole for agreeing with some of my penpal sentences?

I don’t think it makes you an asshole. If you think the punishment is in line with the crime then that’s a good thing, right?

I think 2 of my pals sentences are probably fair (one for parole violation & having a gun, the other was for drug distribution), one is very unfair (burglary) and one is probably lenient (murder).

It doesn’t make you an asshole at all, to agree criminals need to be sentenced.  Being an asshole would be more along the lines of being a sadist and bringing it up with them over and over, trying to punish them with emotional heartache.  I don’t agree with any of my pen pals sentences, as they are all JLWOP, I’ve done extensive research into their cases and without getting into too much detail, I think they had a right to self defense, but there’s the “poor to prison” pipeline in effect.  I will admit there were ads up that interested me but after looking up their crimes I felt sick or terrified and moved on.  For example I could not write to someone who committed crimes against children or serial rapists/killers.  I certainly don’t tell people who they can or cannot write to, that is just me having a very gentle nature, and I can’t handle it, I’m glad they are locked away.  

I once had a pp that got a too light sentence (25 years, sex offender. he is the reason that I now look up the crimes of a new potential pp). We would discuss his crime on occasion and I'd always say: "kid, the judge has been way too lenient with you, I would've given you double the amount you have right now."

Of course he would get upset and angry with me, stating how *gasp* unfair his sentence was. In the end it all came down to one thing: regret. If I would've had only the slightest impression that he was sorry for what he did, then I wouldn't have taunted him like that. But he always gave me the feeling that he was only sorry for the fact that he got caught, and not for what he did to those (sometimes way) underaged girls. Needless to say that we are not in touch anymore. I do wish him all teh best though and hope that he is able to redeem himself.

So in my humble opinion, it is perfectly fine to agree with the sentence the judge gave your/a penpal. We're only human and eventhough we get to know our penpals on such a deep level and do not judge them, they're still in prison. And most of those guys aren't in there for missing one sitting of sunday school, amirite? 

You're not an asshole for agreeing with some of the sentences. All of my penpals, received harsh sentences when there were extenuating circumstances that were the root causes to the crimes. I think yes, you punish the act, but more importantly you treat the root cause. My penpals all deal with either serious untreated mental illness or drug addiction. 

There are people I wont write to and some people bemoan me for pointing out that I have serious issue with racists... But that's how divided America is that some people agree that killing black or brown people is still acceptable practice in 2019 or heaven forbid even dislking someone for the colour of their skin. I mean... I wont write to racists, child molesters, rapists or even murderers. Most of the people I've written to have been involved in drugs...

Do I agree with all of the sentences? Some yes and some no... Yes I agree my MWI should have been sentenced. But she got both a good and a bad deal... 5 years is a bit much she was young and they ended up charging her on the minimum for trafficking which was an automatic 5 year sentence... I don't agree with automatic sentences at all.

Doe it make you an asshole to agree with their sentence... no not at all... some people deserve exactly what they get... but we've already been through this and the last time I said that about someone, someone else above me flipped their lid.

I don't think about their sentences much.  Liz got 10 years for a posession charge, which seems pretty harsh.  Linda got 5 years for selling heroin.  She had a pretty huge amount when they arrested her.  Considering the severity, and that the D.A. wanted to give her 30 years, she got off light.

This is a hard one cause in the uk unless it’s extremely a bad crime life is only about 15 years sometimes it does mean life but very rare. And people here think it should mean life but when I met someone really doing life it changed how I see things. But that doesn’t  make you a asshole not at all! 

Moon I agree about sex offenders.  There are some I read about in the paper that get 4-5 years for crimes against children, then people will get sentences for 15-20 for growing pot.  I just don’t get it.

Drug sentencing is all up shit creek without a paddle to put that in a way that maybe only the Australians and British people here will get (basically being in a boat up a creek full of shit without a paddle comparitively). Tough on drugs is clealrly not working and they're catching out the mules and not the syndicates. Meanwhile the people at the top very rarely get caught. They could use RICO laws to break the back of the syndicates that push drugs instead they'd rather give an 18 year old or a kid in their early 20s (which by the time you get to all of about 30 you should realise that a lot of them up to about 25 still act and look like kids) a mandatory stretch... and if you go out there and get three convictions in a state with a mandatory "three strikes" law you may end up getting life for having a drug addiction.

Work that the fuck out...

I personally think you should look beyond the crime and more at the person. The point is to give someone a source of correspondence while incarcerated. Isn't someone who sells drugs just as guilty as someone who commits murder, how many people have died or committed other crimes as a result of dealing. Drug dealing and trafficking of drugs is almost worse as you are making profit out of misery

I don’t want to simplify it but drug dealing is literally supply and demand. There will always be a demand, and someone needs to supply that. Until the government do something to completely overhaul drug misuse/addiction, it’ll always be this way. 

The UK state are one of the biggest pedallers of drugs with the so called methadone detox programme. Methadone is far more addictive and the withdrawals are worse than heroin, but guess what it's cheap. Whereas as subutex is expensive but is proven to work because it doesn't feed the habit but blocks the opiate receptors in the brain meaning the heroin if taken has no effect. There unfortunately is no answer to the drug crisis apart from much harsher sentencing for the traffickers and dealers.

I disagree with the latter part. Harsher sentences doesn’t stop dealing, it just means someone else comes in and takes over. I don’t have the answers but legalising drugs I feel is the way forward. Get them regulated, cut out the middlemen, cut out drug related crimes. 

Legalising would just mean the government controlled it to raise taxes etc, the dealers would still be out there undercutting the prices and addicts would still need to commit crime to fund their habits.

Just look in the UK at the illegally imported and sold cigarettes in order to get cheap cigarettes.

Until you've known of someone who is caught up in drugs I feel like you should refrain from commenting... to compare drug dealing to murder is a stretch and a half... A person takes drugs by choice and free will. A person murders beyond what would be manslaughter often because they're a sadist and there is something wrong with them and then a lot of drug users don't have a choice, they were brought up around people affected by drugs and thats the only life they know...

Also... tough on drugs is a complete failure... tougher sentencing of individuals hasn't stopped anything.... like I said above... Use racketeering law to take down the people who are putting the drugs in the hands of pushers... stop targetting the easily picked low hanging fruit. It doesn't resolve the issue. New York got rid of the mob almost single handedly because of RICO laws. On the other hand they're not willing to use those same laws that exist to break the back of drug dealers?

Why? There's plenty of conspiricy and conjecture that the government is in on making money off drugs but I wont hold anyone to believing that... Giving someone 25 year for being a drug addict though... that's pathetic.

That’s a very small minority though considering how many people buy from reputable places. 

There isn’t a solid answer so guess we’ll just need to agree to disagree.

You can’t really say on one hand “a person takes drugs by choice and free will” then go on about addiction. Addiction isn’t a choice, and most addicts are purely self medicating.

I have known more than enough people whose lives have been affected and controlled by drugs. Probably more than yourself so I shall not refrain from commenting it's an open forum for all to comment as they see fit.

Addiction is an action in and of itself... knowingly using something until it becomes habit forming and you can't stop... Even if someone is an addict a person can still choose to abstain. In fact this is one of the very few times in my life where I will speak out in favor of religion because of the known success of 12 step programs in actually teaching people that they have the ability to abstain from things that are bad for them.

Then I honestly think I have to question the value in your logic if you think 25 years is an apropriate sentence for someone who uses drugs out of habituation.

It's not the using drugs, it's the crimes they commit to fund their habit. And as you just said it's a choice, so when they know the consequences and still chose then.... So I'm questioning your logic there

No one sits around when they’re 10 and thinks ‘think I’ll be a drug addict when I’m older cause that sounds like so much fun!’ 

And addiction is a dependency, you cannot simple abstain from it. And actually, cold turkey is pretty dangerous and not recommended. 

But I’m bowing out cause I feel this will drag on n I don’t want to hijack Galapagos thread. 

Baby blue, I feel the same bowing out, I just don't understand why even though people disagree they can't respect that others may have a different view, seems respectful debate is not possible here.

We're too far apart to even ever have the hope of finding any common ground. You don't get it, and you've obviously never been directly exposed to the whole process, and I will finalise this discussion by saying that the war on the individual with prohibition, in the whole process since we came up with that ridiculous thought bubble has solved exactly nothing... Will never solve anything... and the only way you will ever solve anything is through a combination of legalising that which is "safe" to do so and breaking the syndicates that push drugs like the state of New York broke the Gambino family and all the rest of what entailed by introducing RICO laws...

You are obviously applying your personal moral compass to a problem that is outside of the scope of what you're dealing with in your own personal domain and not looking at the bigger logistical nightmare of actually ending the problem...

Your also demonising people that are not inherently demons might I add.

No one said anything about what you're talking about and you'r jumping the gun here also.... The first thing is a statement of the obvious... "no one plans to be an addict" of course... The second part is reading between the lines and coming up with your own conclusion... Abstinance is the long term answer... getting clean is the first issue... Unfortunately some people have to resort to going to jail in America to get clean because you guys wont fund a proper health care system let alone a drug rehabilitation program.

Frankie, can I ask why do you feel the need so obnoxious, you claim I know nothing at a rough count I have worked with over a thousand addicts in my life. I have sat and held people's hand as they go through cold turkey, I have attended numerous funerals of those who drugs took their life. I have first hand seen the violence that goes along in the drug world. But I was respected by every addict I worked with for being straight and honest with them. So please don't tell me I have no right to comment.

Its not obnoxious when its based on the realities of your own statement, and its also not up to me to prove you are or are not obnoxious the burden of proof in an argument is always with the person who lays the claim. I am not obnoxius, and you can either justify your claim with evidence or you can desist from making such ridiculous character based statements. You may also not like what I say but that doesn't make me "obnoxious." It only shows your own thin skin when you get in a huff about something and have to start a character war with someone based on nothing but your own personal beliefs and values which might I add are also false.

If you insinuate a claim to be a "friend" to an addict you surely can see how ridiculous you are at the same time by saying you want a harder stance on crime where all evidence shows that it does not work. Surely you are facetious or you are another one of those people with a strongly held set of entirely personally based opinions that have no basis in reality what so ever.

"Until you've known of someone who is caught up in drugs I feel like you should refrain from commenting".... That's an obnoxious way to respond to anyone.
I was talking about harsher sentences for those involved at a higher level. If addicts didn't spend time in prison they would probably be dead many actually commit crime with the intention of getting caught so they can get health care and cleaned up. Yeah they go back to using when realised but that's their choice.
"Unfortunately some people have to resort to going to jail in America to get clean because you guys wont fund a proper health care system let alone a drug rehabilitation program."
Where did I mention I was against proper health care funding, I'm in the UK and have no part in the US political system.

Your own comments show either a deep seated lack of understanding or a worldview based on your personal views and no logic what so ever... The two things between personal views and a logical outlook are not linked together and unfortunately a lot of people with no formal training in understanding the two will let personal view cloud logic.

Its not an obnoxious way to respond to anyone you just got yourself in a huff and you wont back down enough to stop your own anger from clouding your judgment which is another human failing for a lot of people and even myself sometimes... Calm down and let your rationality come back to you... step away from the keyboard for 10minutes, think of a logical response and then type it out.

"If addicts don't spend time in prison they would be dead..." Unfortunately this is another falsehood... And the NHS is better than this than the US health system and actually offers beds for addicts and dependency in hospital wards... No they would not be dead... unfortunately no one wants to pay for the burden of rehabilitation...

Just like yourself... Not my problem to deal with... When it costs less to rehabilitate someone vs. putting them in prison... This forum is US based so we're talking in terms of US specifics...

If you're finally agreeing with me that using existing laws to go after the drug lords actually putting the drugs out there on the streets in the first place then thats a good place to start.

In short we need a change in perception because the one we have is not working... We need to change our views from "the addict is a criminal and a terrible person who should go to jail for life..." to "the addict is sick and needs additional support to get clean and be a productive member of society without going to jail/prison..." There are even several states in the US now that are realising drug diversion is a better outcome than lengthy prison sentences but I wont hold you to believing anything based in reality.

That's what I said at the start the dealers and traffickers those involved in the manufacture, should be dealt with more harshly.
Whether this is US based or not I never said anything to suggest I was against funding health care.
I know for a fact because I have met the people, who have verbally abused judges in order to get longer sentences to get them off the streets and away from drugs over the winter months, so it's not a falsehood. It's a fact many addicts turn to prison when they are at their lowest to get a bed a meal and health care.
I'm not going to say any more because I'm tired of having defend my position with you when ever I post something.
Time for you to get that not all opinions and views are going to match yours but that doesn't mean they are wrong, it is coming from someone who has had different experiences and life from you and should be the grounds for respectful debate not one up manship.
That's all I'm saying so post away about me all you want, I'm just going to avoid reading anything you write from now on. I don't want to hijack posts but I commented on sentencing as I'm free to do, I don't need my morals, values or ethics put under your microscope
*mic drop*

When you're talking about the person on the street corner selling drugs as the root of the problem then you've missed the point already... Most of those people are only there to feed their own habituation. You need to stop knicking the kid on the corner of the street or the one laying in a pool of his own vomit and actually start arresting the ones that are importing drugs in your case to the UK and the ones that are involved in the major distribution. Arresting another street corner seller doesn't actually resolve the problem because there's a million and one other people who will do it, they're just a token to keep the people happy on the street that the police are seen to be doing "something."

Addicts turn to prison because they feel they have nowhere else to go... Nothing more nothhing less... provide a better place to go that forces them to detox such as drug dependence wards and you'll begin to resolve that problem as I've said. Make a viable alternataive to prisons and most people who want to get clean will use it. But the general population doesn't want to deal in sick people... They'd rather see them as dirty, wicked evil people and in some places in the United States as people who should spend the rest of their life in jail if they do it three times... or even if they don't and somehow otherwise manage to accumulate three felony offenses.

Its not a matter of opinion... There are opnions and there are facts and people like you without the education to decipher between the two will always end up getting caught up ramming their stronly held personal views down people's throats when even when they don't agree with the currently majority held views such as my own on how to actually resolve this issue.

The medical model says you rehabilitate... if you go to a hospital in an ambulance you will not be in the back of an ambulance waiting for a prison officer to take you out on the other side you will likely end up in a ward or in the case of the NHS possibly referred to a detox facility/service. The idea that we have to criminalise the average peron who fell into hard times and made the bad choices of becoming an addict is archaic and frankly no one of much note in the health science field agrees with that view anymore.

"people like you without the education" obnoxious yet again. Ex-prisoners actually chose to return to prison because they feel a safety with the regime and structure FACT, you know Frankie you're stuck in your own head cause you are unwilling to actually view or listen to others opinions and you say I'm stuck in my own views. I'm open to hearing other views just not yours. You are toxic to this forum and since I started on it I have noticed when you start your diatribe, the conversation/debate shuts down.????? Wonder if that's just coincidence?????

@Scot, I've talked to quite a lot of addicts that are fearful about getting back out into society. It's interesting because they want to leave, yet it's the structure and routine that's helped them out tremendously. The ones I've spoken to, have a lot of anxiety about that uncertainty of when they are released. The recividism is somewhere around 60% within the first 2 to 3 years. 

There is an inmate on the WAP site who is serving a lengthy sentence for selling heroin he knew was laced. Sadly, his gf died as a result as well as another individual. There are a lot of dealers that will lace their supplies with lethal doses of fetanyl, knowing that once a user has overdosed, their sales will increase.  

Thanks for all your replies everyone! Some really interesting perspectives on it all - and I'm glad you don't think I'm an asshole for my views on my penpal sentences Haha I feel a lot better about it all now.  It's crazy how different certain sentences can be for some crimes. 

As for drugs and drug crimes.  Addiction is a very tragic, vicious cycle.  Unfortunately I don't think there is any straightforward solution.  People will always do whatever they want to do in life.  Harsher sentences for drug crimes aren't (in my opinion) going to change anything except increase prison populations.  The addiction cycle will typically override such things anyway.  Do smokers just magically give up smoking because they see graphic lung cancer imagery on packets or TV? Nope.  They're virtually immune to such images due to their nictotine addiction.

The great thing is that people do have choice over what they put in their bodies - addiction or not.  And addiction can be broken and overcome.  All the people (myself included) who have overcome addiction and gone on to live productive lives are testament to that.

This is wild.... I'm choosing to walk away at this point because you've become vitriolic. Email me if you feel like  frankiebones1992 [at] outlook.comrel="nofollow" and you have somethin other than hate or malevolance to share. I've had just about enough of that lately.

No, why would that make you an asshole? I even think my penpal got off quite easy with 12 years for killing her baby. We haven't talked much about it yet, but she said i can ask her anything about it, and in time i will probably. Do i judge her? No not really. Ofcourse i think it's one of the worst things a human being can do..but at the same time, that human being , is a human being to me which deserves compassion and love. 
My other penpal is is serving 4 years for possessing drugs with intend to sell.. For me as a Dutch person that is a huge time in prison for something like that..

@DutchGuy wow, you are a much more compassionate and non-judgmental person than I will ever be for being compassionate towards someone who would commit such a crime like killing their own baby! Kudos to you mate. Not trying to be judgmental here towards you btw! I think people should be able to write to whoever they want too :) 

@cleo95 well said who people decide to write to is their business, some people choose to just see people and not crimes and if that works for them good luck to them.