Wednesday, December 05, 2007

It's Thug of the Week - or - When does 156 Equal 252

She was just hangin with the boys, in a vacant building, in the 1300 block of Jefferson, when the "po po" showed up to take her back to jail. I'm sure it seems like yesterday to Carolyn, that first trip to jail in 1986, that is. Carolyn, or Sheila, or Sharon, or Debra, or Jane Doe, or Chocolate, or even Sweet Chocolate, whichever alias you use, has lived a notorious life of crime. This is her 156th time to be booked which is an amazing feat, considering she is only 44 years old.

Carolyn, like many of these "thugs", has primarily been charged with minor misdemeanors. But, her rap sheet lists major felonies, like the five robberies, 10 charges of selling cocaine, numerous thefts and on and on.... She has been charged with a total of 252 different violations. Her latest charge is criminal trespass, which carries a 100.00 bond that she apparently can't make. Not a major crime, is it? That may be true, and if it were her first, or even 10th offense, I might not be so ready to say throw the key away. The problem is she is just another example of an antisocial person who will always be a criminal until that last gasp. Once again, this is a perfect example that cries out for a sentencing matrix. At what point is enough, enough?

Here's her mugshot and rap sheet :




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Harvey...appreciate your "Stop the Madness" anti-crime web campaign but can you please clarify on the website that it is not associated with or affiliated with "Stop the Madness Inc."...we are a national organization with offices in Memphis, Chattanooga and Fort Wayne, IN. The name was registered 14 years ago...we have been actively involved in crime abatement and youth intervention in Memphis since September 2006 and have earned local/national awards. Visit our website at http://www.stopthemadnessinc.com to learn more about us. Thanks.

John Harvey said...

Actually, I never said our group was called anything. I only said that citizens want to stop the madness of rampant crime, and I think the reporter thought we were calling our group by that name. Not so, we are the un-named!

Anonymous said...

where was this "thug" in 2006? did she spend that year in jail somewhere; it's the only year since 1986 that she, apparently, was not arrested at least once.

John Harvey said...

From the state's website, https://www.tennesseeanytime.org/foil/search.jsp , it would appear that she is on probation. I figure she must have done some time....

Anonymous said...

who is going to feed this woman after we "throw away the key"?

does she have children? we the general public have to feed and provide for the kids? my assumption is: yes, we will. and we probably already are, anyway.

why stop at just locking people like this up and throwing away the key? why not let's just be honest with ourselves and say that some people are anti-social and are therefore of no use to civilization.

let's just pass a law that says "if you are arrested (or maybe we should say tried and convicted, since the po po can really just arrest anyone for anything, and no probable cause required) more than 25...30...50...100...or whatever number of times, you will be executed. and then do it. i think that would stop crime.