Criminal Justice Forum

Stop the presses! Oooops…I apologize for the error but when I read the article in the press of how Florida Gubernatorial Candidate, Tom Gallagher, told a group of pastors about his spiritual shift I thought sure he was announcing he was going to become a man of the cloth…

I host the Criminal Justice Forum, so you might be asking yourself how
this is connected with the criminal justice system.  Well, Gallagher did
say, to paraphrase, a society which does not look at life as a sacred
thing or do everything we can to protect it, is a society which is
going to crumble.
 
Well Tom, other than trying to do away with women’s right to an
abortion, does this mean you will actually find money to help women who
carry their babies to term to be able to support that choice?  Will you
promise to do away with the death penalty?  Will you also start spending
money on rehabilitating and properly caring for prisoners in state
custody?  Will you budget money to treat those suffering from mentally
illness, alcoholism and drug addiction?  Will you promise to
automatically restore the civil rights of those released from prison so
they can get on with their lives and take care of their families?
 
The next time you sit down to read your bible, Tom, try Matthew
23:23-24: "Woe to you scribes  and Pharisees , hypocrites;
because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the
law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have
done, and not to leave those undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a
gnat, and swallow a camel."
 
If you’re not sure where to find the money, you may want to quit
promising to build more prisons. And, if you go further and close one
or two of them you’ll have more than enough money to spend usefully.