Ohio Governor Bob Taft announced Monday that six counties will test a program that provides treatment instead of jail time for certain drug offenders. . . who are juveniles or who have children and are earning less than twice the federal poverty level.Ohio residents can write the Governor.
. . .
Incentives for the offenders could include dismissing the charges or clearing or sealing a criminal record upon successful completion of the program.
I'm getting the impression from those in the know that this may be a permissible form of discrimination. I'll find out from Larry Tribe come fall what the parameters of constitutionally permissible discrmination are.
As a policy matter, however, it makes little sense to me to exclude the childless, no matter what the benefit of the program for parents.
1 comment:
"However, Orlett said about 80 percent of offenders aren't juveniles or are childless and won't be helped."
So let me get this straight... you get treatment instead of jailtime if you're a poor parent. So if you're a childless drug user, you have a real incentive to have a kid just to immunize yourself against jail time, and get whatever benefits your kid can get, that you can then sell, and buy more drugs?
That's great.
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