You are not powerless when it comes to “lobbying” judges to reconsider overly compassionate rulings in considering whether or not to release a perp under “No Cash Bail.”
“How?” you ask.
I’m glad you asked.
Everyone loves positive publicity and kudos. Compliments and positive remarks make us feel good, especially when people we care about deliver them privately. Public adulation can be described as a super-charged version of privately delivered kudos. After all, everyone wants to be popular.
But what happens when a person faces criticism? Especially public criticism? Nobody likes harsh criticism.
Negative publicity in adequate quantities makes an impact, both on the conscious mind as well as the subconscious mind.
When you learn of a judge who has released a career criminal, especially one charged with violent offenses when they have a history of violent convictions, let the world know.
Shame those judges – BY NAME – in your social media circles, in your workplace and among your friends and neighbors. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. You don’t have to be nasty and you certainly don’t have to call them names. But you can “name them and shame them” for dubious decisions putting criminals before safe neighborhoods and families. Let the members of your community make up their minds when they learn the details.
What’s more, if you see them at the grocery store, farmer’s marker or gas station, call them out on it. Instead of giving them a pass, communicate your disapproval of them putting criminals over law-abiding citizens in the community.
Some folks are having success doing just this in Chicago with the judges who let Lawrence Reed loose after 72 prior arrests. Yes, 72 arrests and Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez turned him loose on the people of Chicago yet again. And look what happened.
Even the Chicago Tribune is picking up on this:
Before he allegedly attacked the 26-year-old woman, Reed, with more than 70 past arrests and a history of mental illness, had been accused of another violent crime — aggravated battery — and had been released in August over the objections of a Cook County prosecutor by Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez. At the time, the judge said, “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to.”
Those are likely to be words Molina-Gonzalez very much regrets when she next faces voters.
Uh, yes you can hold every violent offender, Your Honor.
So don’t be afraid to call out judges in your county who release habitual offenders instead of holding them for trial.