Posted by Justin Jeffre

In the battle over the jail tax, proponents created more fear than actual solutions. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters obviously thinks restitution works pretty well for his family, but it seems like a good alternative to jailing some people that remains underutilized. If you’ve had something stolen, damaged or destroyed there’s a good chance you’d rather see your possessions fixed or replaced rather than simply sending someone to jail.

Deters (one of the Republicans who will not be opposed because of Todd Portune and the Democratic Party’s backroom wheeling and dealing with the Grand Old Party) says that crime is rampant in Cincinnati. And because Hamilton County voters rejected a nearly a billion dollar bipartisan jail tax, city residents can expect our city to become increasingly “unsafe”.

But there are probably many more situations where instead of sending people to jail, an agreement to compensate victims for loss, damage or injury may be a better outcome for all parties involved and another good way to free up more jail space. Now, some of you might say all vandals should be locked up (even if they are 63 year old ladies) and we should throw away the keys, but surely there are some circumstances where victims might prefer an alternative, like Deters’ son and brothers for instance.

This is just one example of the kind of solutions that should be discussed during the electoral process. Of course the electoral process is supposed to foster deep discussion and debate about the direction of our county. But instead of fostering debate and discussing alternative solutions, the two–corporate party-dictatorship continues the fear mongering rather than working to improve efficiency in the criminal justice system. 

Deters knows restitution is often a better alternative than sending someone to jail, so why isn’t he using it more? That’s just one question you won’t get to hear on the campaign trail thanks to the backroom deals by corporate party bosses. These undemocratic arrangements reward business as usual instead of holding our public servants’ feet to the fire and encouraging innovation through healthy competition.

It’s as if our public servants think they deserve a pat on the back and a free pass more than we the people deserve to have real choices and innovative solutions. One can only hope some independent voices jump in these races to challenge the status quo and pressure our public servants to give us better solutions instead of just the finger pointing and a blame game we’ve become so accustomed to.

Some people say we get the government we deserve. I say we deserve a better plan, more voices and more choices.

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.