Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [84]
If we can somehow accept these criminals for what they’ve done and use them where they fit in to help improve our way of life, we could avoid letting them lie around in prison, where they do nothing and become an absolute drain on our economy. We’re paying them to be there. We pay for their cell, their air-conditioning, their meals, the staffing of the prison, the sheriff, and round-the-clock babysitting by every guard on duty twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And if you are going to put these people in jail, bill them! Make them pay the two hundred dollars or more a day it costs to keep them incarcerated.
People often ask me if our judicial system can be improved. The answer is absolutely. The system can be fixed by involving more citizens and installing a harsher range of fines. For example, if a guy steals a car, we as taxpaying citizens will pay somewhere in the neighborhood of two hundred dollars or more a day to keep him in jail. In general, that thief will get probation for a first offense, putting him right back on the streets, where the likelihood is he will steal another car—or do something even worse. If he gets caught, he’s going back to jail for three to five years. If it costs two hundred dollars a day to keep that criminal in the system, it will cost you, as a taxpayer, $365,000 to keep that one offender in prison for five years. That’s a lot of money!
Here’s my idea on how we can fix the system for this type of crime. Hit them in the pocketbook. You fine the guy for every offense. The first time he is caught, it’ll cost him five grand or he will get five years. I’m pretty sure that someone will come up with that money to make sure their son, brother, boyfriend, or husband isn’t put away for five years. The next offense will cost double—ten thousand dollars or six years in prison. Again, someone has to come up with that money or he’s going away for a long time. Every offense he commits will cost him more and more money, until the financial benefit of crime just doesn’t make sense. If he boosts a car that he knows he can only get a few thousand dollars for, he’s going to think twice if it is going to cost him triple that if he gets caught. Add up the cost of the lawyer, court fees, and fines and you’re talking about a substantial amount of money.
The more serious the crime, the steeper the fine. Armed robbery would cost the perpetrator a lot more than petty theft. If you hurt someone while committing your crime, there’s no option of a fine, just mandatory jail time. If you’re a drug dealer, that eight-hundred-dollar bag of heroin will cost you eight thousand dollars in fines.
I’ve made a lot of money on the criminal justice system over the years. Every time someone jumps, I laugh because I’m going after the reward, which I always get. If you fine people for their crimes, sooner or later they will give up their ways because they won’t be able to keep coming up with the cash to get out of their situation. If they keep committing crime, they’re going away for a very long time. Believe me, they’ll get into a different line of work before they’ll choose to do hard time.
Ever since my television show hit the air, jumps from my bail bond business have gone down because no one wants to be chased by me and a camera crew. The courts have seen a significant rise in attendance and I have seen a significant decrease in “failures to appear.” Getting busted on television is humiliating for both the perpetrator and his family, but it sure is a great way to remedy crime. Beth calls this method “shame therapy.”
Most everyone has seen Dateline NBC, the television news program where Chris Hansen traps online predators coming to the home of underage girls. When the suspects meet Chris Hansen and realize they’re going to be on television for their crime, they are humiliated, embarrassed, and uncomfortable for their decision to be there. This type of bust is effective and really works as a deterrent.
If you want to catch a criminal,