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Liberal 
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,11:04 am |
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QUOTE A man will serve 120 days in jail for his part in spending at least $900 in counterfeit cash at various stories in Minnesota, including Kmart and Target stores in Burnsville. Dustin Dean Zamora, 32, of Albert Lea also will serve five years' probation and pay restitution, according to court records from last month's sentencing. Dakota County District Judge Thomas Bibus ordered Zamora to undergo a gambling assessment. Zamora received credit for 82 days served. He pleaded guilty to felonies for counterfeiting currency and third-degree drug possession. Meranda Lynn O'Connor, 29, and Eric Michael Dorman, 34, of Fairmont also face criminal charges. Police began investigating after workers at Walmart in West St. Paul noticed bills used by three individuals had Benjamin Franklin on the front with a $5 metallic strip and an Abraham Lincoln watermark, a criminal complaint said. http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_18518676
I always thought that counterfeiting was a serious crime.
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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bianca
Group: Members
Posts: 1882
Joined: Dec. 2006
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,12:04 pm |
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 Maybe he was on medication for "restless leg syndrome" and it MADE him do it.....hey, it works for Tuttle. 
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I believe in the patriotism and energy and initiative of the average man. Woodrow Wilson
Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. — Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
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Wolfie
Group: Members
Posts: 1040
Joined: Apr. 2005
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,12:39 pm |
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Want to make up the budget shortfall, start imposing the max fine on all crimes, and the make sentence. Remove the minimum guidelines, dont even allow a minimum. Max fines, and max sentence, put some teeth back in the laws that are currently gumming criminals, thats why no one cares if they break the law. Slight risk for bad behavior.
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Many good men have died to guarantee your freedoms, live your life like it was worth dying for.
I have the ability to make the 1200 meter shot, but some targets deserve the up close kill, where you can watch the life leave the eyes while the blood ebbs from the body.
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Stone-Magnon
Group: Members
Posts: 1540
Joined: Dec. 2010
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,12:48 pm |
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Ya that will make up the budget shortfall. Very smart, good call! What you're talking about doesn't cost any money at tall...that's the ticket! You're a genius. It's simple, people are breaking laws because the punishment isn't severe enough.
Of course this assumes we charge them to begin with. How about cases where criminals admit stealing under oath and they are not even charged? Kind of hard to throw a person in prison for theft when they aren't even charged in the first place. How about throwing the prosecutor in jail for ignoring the crime?
Want to fill up the jails there big fella? Start jailing police officers and government officials who lie.
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...everybody must get stoned
-Bob Dylan
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sumpdump
Group: Members
Posts: 559
Joined: Mar. 2005
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,3:06 pm |
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but then we would have to build a BIGGER rec center... 
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The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.
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| Post Number: 6
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grassman
Group: Members
Posts: 3858
Joined: Mar. 2006
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,8:13 pm |
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Counterfeiting is not that serious anymore. The Fed has been doing it for years. 
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git er done!
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| Post Number: 7
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hairhertz
Group: Members
Posts: 3489
Joined: Dec. 2004
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Posted on: Jul. 21 2011,8:18 pm |
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You see these statements that such & such charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine. What I think I'm reading from the wolf is that the courts should levee the maximum fine each time to increase revenue.
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metis movement
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irisheyes
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 3040
Joined: Oct. 2003
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Posted on: Jul. 22 2011,5:52 am |
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(Wolfie @ Jul. 21 2011,12:39 pm)
QUOTE Want to make up the budget shortfall, start imposing the max fine on all crimes, and the make sentence. Remove the minimum guidelines, dont even allow a minimum. Max fines, and max sentence
You got any facts to back up this idea? How is the local, state, and federal government going to greatly expand their prison system and somehow make money? Law enforcement and the prison industrial complex we have in America costs far more money than it ever makes. But more important than that is justice isn't supposed to be a money making venture, when it is you get crooked cops in the metro and in Texas robbing people to put it in their own pockets or to expand their agency budget.
A guy robbing a gas station doesn't have the $35k for the max, so the high dollar fine is moot. Same goes for the $100k or one million dollar fines for someone on Hennepin Ave selling a bag of cocaine or crack. They'll go to prison and make license plates or something for a few cents an hour. Sounds like a great moneymaker for the state, doesn't it? 
QUOTE put some teeth back in the laws that are currently gumming criminals, thats why no one cares if they break the law. Slight risk for bad behavior.
If harsher sentences are the key to fixing things, why not use the example of the nation with the highest per capita prison population? That nation is the United States, and so far our criminal justice system hasn't been very effective in curtailing the so-called drug war, drunk driving, or the budget.
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You know it's going to be a bad day when you cross thread the cap on the toothpaste.
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hymiebravo
Group: Members
Posts: 4989
Joined: Jan. 2006
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Posted on: Jul. 22 2011,6:20 am |
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Crime and law breaking is something that gets charged to the poor. I think that is true around the world isn't it?
Look at every episode of that show COPS. Who are they targeting every episode? Are they in some so called "affluent" suburb? Certainly there must be somebody doing drugs or breaking the laws there.
That catch-line they have should be changed to something like: "On patrol in trailer parks and ghettos across America".
It's very predatory behavior. They, the cops, go after the easiest targets.
And of course everything is edited for maximum TV drama and also to make sure that the "bad guys" look bad and the "good guys" look good.
I say somebody type something here about how "white" collar crime is harder to prosecute.
That is probably partly due to societies being brainwashed about who is a criminal. IMO
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hymiebravo
Group: Members
Posts: 4989
Joined: Jan. 2006
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Posted on: Jul. 22 2011,6:44 am |
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In regard to the counterfeiters:
First of all.
Taking your counterfeit money to someplace like Target or Walmart doesn't seem like the brightest idea to me. I can't believe they could even get one bill through.
When it is decided what the punishment for a crime should be. The likelihood of how often the so called crime will occur is part of what is used to determine the fine or punishment.
The more likely that lots of people will do something that goes against whatever law it is the less stiff the penalty.
Perhaps now that counterfeiting has become so easy. It will start to fall into the category of jaywalking or something. lol
As far as what is a serious crime:
I thought felonies where supposed to be considered "serious".
Look at the Norman case. How many so called "felonies" was he charged with? Half a dozen or so?
What did he get for that? 30 days house arrest was it?
At least the prosecutor got to pad her resume and get her ego stroked.
That's all that really matters I guess. lol
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