I ain't seen the sunshine since--I don't know when

November 29, 2005 5:08 PM

Throw Away The Key dot org seeks to lengthen the sentences of criminals on the premise of their mission statement: "Incarceration Works!" From their site: "If you believe a girl should be able to walk down the street in broad daylight without being abducted and murdered by a convicted felon, then it is time for you to get involved."
posted by fandango_matt (26 comments total)

Interesting that they advocate incarceration, yet have a pro-death penalty statement on the front page...
posted by brundlefly at 5:11 PM on November 29, 2005

What makes this "best of the web"? Or rather, makes it more than a site aimed at pushing an opinion?
posted by vacapinta at 5:14 PM on November 29, 2005

Other Framers Institute, Inc. projects: Psoriasis Cure Now, Judges Gone Wild. BoycottCBS.com, reagancountry.com, and 1bigquestion.com seem to be defunct sites that now point to throwawaythekey.org. They could stand a new template.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:14 PM on November 29, 2005

Funny how right-wingers are all in favor of tough sentences... until they get caught breaking laws, and then come the pleas for understanding and forgiveness.
posted by clevershark at 5:16 PM on November 29, 2005

Sentencing project argues that prisoners are incarcerated for too long.
I wonder if the two groups were to come into contact, would they be obliterated in a flash of pure energy?
posted by forforf at 5:29 PM on November 29, 2005

If I'm elected, I will guarantee absolutely no crime at all because I'm going to pass a law that anyone breathing should be put to death before they get the chance to commit a crime. Because almost all crime is committed by people, we should just eliminate the people and the problem will be solved.

I don't think I'll win a second term but that's okay, the world will be a much better place after my first term.
posted by fenriq at 5:31 PM on November 29, 2005

I can't wait to see all the Mefi members, furious at this ostensibly "right-wing" view, to start advocating the sublime virtue of short sentences for all manners of criminals. Then, provoked by a bored teenager, who is pretending to be the one conservative member of metafilter, the responses will begin to advocate giving away a pound of gold to anyone accused of child rape.
posted by gagglezoomer at 5:31 PM on November 29, 2005

"If you believe a girl should be able to walk down the street in broad daylight without being abducted and murdered by a convicted felon, then it is time for you to get involved."

B does not follow from A.
posted by revgeorge at 5:31 PM on November 29, 2005

Rate of recidivism should be a factor in sentencing. However, there does seem to be a bit too much faith in the infallibility of our judicial system.
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:39 PM on November 29, 2005

Weeeell, I don't necessarily disagree with the premise, but the way in which it's stated and the case is built is obviously piss-poor. This is a clear case of "Stop being on my side; you're making my side look bad."
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:39 PM on November 29, 2005

1. Build simple web site that gets the blood riled up.
2. Get blogs to link to it.
3. Add Google Ads.
4. Profit!
posted by smackfu at 5:44 PM on November 29, 2005

smackfu: don't forget the Paypal links for gullible red-staters. Guidestar doesn't have 990s for the 'Framers Institute, Inc.', but I can't say I'd be terribly surprised if its expenditures turned out to consist largely of a generous salary payable to one Michael Paranzino.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:49 PM on November 29, 2005

odinsdream: yeah most people don't, I think I may be going crazy. Sorry.
posted by gagglezoomer at 5:51 PM on November 29, 2005

This post would rock if IshmaelGraves had made it -- nice info.
posted by undule at 6:04 PM on November 29, 2005

From site:
The average time served for rape is just 6 years.
The average time served for molesting a child is just 3 years.
2/3 of felons released this year will be rearrested for a NEW crime within 3 years.

Now is the recidivism rate for sex offenders? Are those averages cherry picked from a state or national?

From What's at Stake
FACT: Over a 25 year period, more than half of all child molesters will be rearrested for a new sex offense charge.

Ah, you did misrepresent an unreleated crime statistic. Only over a 25 year period? Weak, why not just mark it over a lifetime?

How about a Three-strikes law for violent crimes, and two-strikes law for violent sex crimes? All in favor, raise your property tax rate!

Also note, you going to be the first one bitching when taxes go up to cover the ~$20k /yr it takes to incarcerate a prisoner?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:21 PM on November 29, 2005

Sites like this frustrate me. They take a complex issue and with a few out of context stats (have you ever read DOJ statistics, they're fucking impenetrable even to experts and the ones on the site are likely cherry picked from a 337 page report) and use make a case appealing to the lowest common denominator. Anyone who disagrees with their methodology is suddenly in favor of unchecked child molestation.

This is one step up from the pro-lifers who believe anyone in favor of choice is also in favor of infanticide.

Some of their facts are also pretty shaky -- it's my understanding that most (all?) states have some version of Megan's Law and mandatory lifetime registration is far from uncommon. Anecdotally, there is a kid down the street from me who had consensual sex with a girl three years younger than himself. I find the fact that his face showed up in my mailbox disturbing on a great many levels and am of the opinion that his sentence -- a decade of public humiliation -- is far too harsh. My county also is pilot testing a program requiring GPS tracking for sex offenders and I would be hard pressed to think of a more efficient way to monitor the actions of an individual.

Between the currently popular preventative detention of people who have served their sentences, mandatory registration, rare (but not unheard of) chemical castration and technological advances I begin to wonder if the cure isn't worse than the disease. Maybe public hysteria and the need to appear tough on crime during the perpetual election cycle is trumping privacy concerns and Constitutionally guaranteed rights. I really have no business knowing that the kid down the street boffed some girl a few years younger than him, a few years ago, a few counties away.

Anyway, just for fun a I created a throwaway gmail account for their form. It should be fun when the spam deluge starts rolling in and I expect I'll be hitting Republican mailing lists in a matter of days.
posted by cedar at 7:12 PM on November 29, 2005

If you believe a girl should be able to walk down the street in broad daylight without being abducted and murdered by a convicted felon, then it is time for you to get involved.

Hell yeah:
1. everyone convicted of a nonviolent offense, let go.
2. everyone in for a violent offense, outside of domestic abuse, keep 'em in the clink 4 evar
3. let all the rape girls go who got canned for killing a mother fucker

I don't now, my prison slang seems to be a little off, I wouldn't survive despite my protests.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:23 PM on November 29, 2005

everyone in for a violent offense, outside of domestic abuse, keep 'em in the clink 4 evar

Interesting exception.

Does it count if you abuse your prison bitch?
posted by cedar at 7:37 PM on November 29, 2005

55% of federal inmates are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses.

Maybe if we didn't incarcerate so many people for spurious reasons, we'd have room for all the rapists, molesters, etc.
posted by afroblanca at 8:01 PM on November 29, 2005

gagglezoomer, are you a bored teenager?
posted by es_de_bah at 8:14 PM on November 29, 2005

2. everyone in for a violent offense, outside of domestic abuse, keep 'em in the clink 4 evar

Because everyone knows those bitches brought it on themselves.

Either that, or they made it all up.
posted by beth at 9:01 PM on November 29, 2005

Is the exception in 2 to cover married-rapists under rule 3?
posted by nomisxid at 10:55 PM on November 29, 2005

If I'm elected, I will guarantee absolutely no crime at all because I'm going to pass a law that anyone breathing should be put to death before they get the chance to commit a crime. Because almost all crime is committed by people, we should just eliminate the people and the problem will be solved.

I don't think I'll win a second term but that's okay, the world will be a much better place after my first term.
fenriq
As all crime was committed by the living, Death reasoned, then living itself was a crime.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:59 AM on November 30, 2005

When this popped up in my reader, I assumed it was in the same vein as Think of the Children [this is brilliant]. I guess from the responses, it's not?

I heard that the solution to crime was healthy eating.
posted by wilberforce at 1:12 AM on November 30, 2005

Well do I remember the day when my Father said to me, "Son (he said), some people are crazy in big ways, some people are crazy in small ways. The ones who are crazy in small ways say things like, 'lock 'em up and throw away the key.' They're the dangerous ones, because they get to vote." Visiting hours were over for that day, but his words have haunted me ever since.
posted by planetthoughtful at 1:55 AM on November 30, 2005

Mandatory term sentencing laws leave people with no leeway to give first-time offenders lighter sentences. This results in moroninc things like persons sent to jail for 20 years or more for crimes many of us would consider petty.

At the same time we allow plea bargains from those clearly guilty of horrific things, so some people who are guilty as hell walk off with probation while others who made a simple mistake end up in the slammer for most of their lives. Great system, no?

I'd feel a lot better about it if the judges were able to decide the sentence, to make sure it was appropriate for the crime. Of course this also means you need to be able to trust the judges to make a good decision...
posted by caution live frogs at 7:12 AM on November 30, 2005