Times Union: Melissa Ross: Furniture argument irrelevant; we're already losing in criminal justice

[Patricia M. McBride]

Interesting perspective.  She basically thinks we should address the problems that the courthouse is supposed to be a solution for (jail for those who commit crimes).  Education is one of the solutions she believes must be looked at.....................perhaps if we could get the federal government out of the equation, it might be a worth while solution.  Your thoughts??? 

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May 16, 2012

$750,000. That's the amount Mayor Alvin Brown vetoed on new furniture for the  massive new Duval County Courthouse. It got him named the "Winner of the Week" in Florida politics by a Tampa Bay Times  political writer.

The courthouse, furniture and all, will end up costing taxpayers somewhere  north of $350 million. That comes out to about $400 per Duval County resident,  in case you were wondering.

So all of us who live here in Duval have each shelled out 400 bucks a head to  finance criminal justice in the 904. In other words, financing failure.

Because by the time someone is in lockup or facing a judge at our  ridiculously expensive new Duval County Courthouse, we've failed. Failed to  educate a child. Failed to strengthen families. Failed to teach kids to make the  right choices in life.

Who's to blame for this massive failure? Boy, did I get an earful on that  subject when I made a documentary about crime in the 904. The film is actually  called "The  904."

When I screened it for liberal audiences, they assailed me. "You didn't talk  enough about institutional racism in Jacksonville," they said. "Racism and the  extreme poverty in the black community is the problem here

Read more at Jacksonville.com:  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-05-16/story/melissa-ross-fu...