Crime list debated on the streets
Suffolk DA Democratic candidate Rachael Rollins' plan to not prosecute 15 crimes stirred up a lot of opinions at South Station yesterday: Jon Baxter, 19, Easton
“I think that's crazy, I think it should be bigger in the news and stuff and talked more about . ... I think there are way too much people locked up in jail for stupid offenses like marijuana ... just do community service to make up for the bad stuff they've done. ... There's going to be a bunch of mixed reviews about it, I feel like most people will side against her because she has the odds stacked up against her.”
Austin Allard, 21, South Boston “I don't think people should be getting arrested, I think it's more of a waste of time on crimes like that where someone can go a different route rather than serving jail time or having to go waste money in jails when they can come ... give back to the community, kind of be like a positive reinforcement instead of like a negative . ... I think getting them into a detox or getting them into a rehab or something like that would be much more productive . ... I think that there's still going to be repercussions for what you do, just not necessarily jail time. So I don't think that it will increase crime, I think that it will do a better job of rehabilitating people back into the communities to be supportive and be a contributing part to the community.” Becky Sniderman, 30, Roslindale
“I understand Rachael Rollins' position. I think we have way too many people in our jails, especially for offenses that often don't deserve it . ... I think locking people up or not locking them up doesn't actually incentivize or not incentivize people, that's just an old argument that we use for the criminal justice system but I highly doubt that it actually does anything; people are going to do what they're going to do.”
Shane Perfetuo, 30, Roslindale
“When it's something when someone is trying to make ends meet or something like that or feed their family I don't think it's as important to rail against them. ... I think that there's just far too much opportunity wasted and
destroyed and lives destroyed . ... Putting someone in jail doesn't help change their behavior, helping them changing their behavior changes their behavior.”
Ruth Douglas, 21, Somerville
“I think that's a positive thing just because there are a lot of crimes like that that I think people do and they end up in a really dire situations where they're stuck in jail and they're not able to lift themselves out of that. People who are selling drugs ... maybe they have no other option ... they don't have any other means to provide for themselves. So I think they shouldn't be punished for that and having community service as a way to kind of still take responsibility for that but also let the people kind of lift themselves out I think is helpful.”
Christine Hui, 27, Quincy
“Putting people in jail costs a lot of taxpayer dollars . ... If a minor is dealing drugs he shouldn't be put into jail for that, he should be given a second chance . ... Maybe it doesn't work for every situation depending on how severe it is but ... I don't believe that a looser sentence incentivizes any good people to do bad behavior. It could render maybe a bigger drug dealer or more severe crimes, but I can't argue that somebody who's dealing drugs is going to go kill someone or do something even worse than what they're doing . ... If you're just going to be consistently dealing drugs and you have multiple offenses that's carried in a record and you can be more severely punished down the line should you do something worse.”