I knew my sister was having some trouble, but I recently found out her house was condemned and she is now living in a local shelter. With her five children.
I feel so bad for my nephew (who is the oldest at 8) and my four nieces (ranging in age from 1 year to 6 years). I wish there was something I could do to help them. But I'm flat broke. And my living arrangement doesn't permit me to really have any of them stay over, even for a few days. I don't care about necessarily helping my sister, because she chose her life. But my nieces and nephew didn't. Why should they have to live in a shelter merely because of the poor choices their mother made? Why should they have to suffer?
If I had the money and/or the space, I'd tell my sister to have my nephew live with me. I couldn't offer him a lot, but I could offer him a stable home. But I don't have the resources to do that.
The other thing I've told my sister to look into is the Milton Hershey School. I think, especially now with her housing uncertainty, she should look to what's better for her children.
But it's not my choice and I have no say in the matter. It just kills me to think about what my nephew is having to deal with through no fault of his own. Kind of similar to my life in some respects....I went through a challenging childhood. While I think I turned out (mostly) alright, I fear that he may not be able to.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Because we can...
Some days I really dislike my job. Overall it's a great job, but there are times where I can't stand it.
For a little background, I work with our Treatment Courts: Mental Health Court, Drug Court, and Recovery Court. All three are great programs and after working in my office for about 3 years (both as an intern and full time), I don't believe I would want to work in my office if I wasn't doing the Treatment Courts. The reason is that our office seems to have the mentality of "lets do something because we can, not because we should." However, I have the ability to do what's 'right' working in the Treatment Courts.
And frankly, I'm offended by that philosophy. We have a lot of power as prosecutors: power to charge/not charge, power to decide what (if any) offer to make in a given case, power of a sentence to ask the judge to impose. And merely because a sentence is available doesn't mean we should ask for it. Merely because the elements of a crime could technically be proven, doesn't mean we should charge someone with a crime.
But my office thinks otherwise. They have the mentality that we should do something "because we can, not necessarily because we should."
Case in point. There is a case where a 18 year old man was charged (hereafter the "defendant"). He lives with his mother and they were staying the house of the mother's friends. Police were called after the homeowner noticed a bottle of alcohol was empty and two bottles of her own son's 800mg Ibuprofen pills (a prescription) was empty. None of the three bottles had been empty earlier in the evening. When police arrived, they found the defendant lying on a bed with a 'suicide note' beside him. They noticed that he appeared to be under the influence of something. Based on what they saw, police got an order to involuntarily commit defendant to a psychiatric hospital. While he was being prepared for transport, the homeowner found another empty pill bottle of a muscle relaxer (a controlled substance under PA law). Instead of being taken to the psychiatric hospital, defendant ended up being admitted to intensive care and had to be put on a ventilator (the hospital reported that had defendant been allowed to fall asleep, it is unlikely he would have woken up based on what he took).
So far it sounds fine. Police got an order to involuntary commit defendant to a psychiatric hospital. That's what they should have done...the guy defnitaly needed help. However, the police didn't stop there. They also charged him with underage drinking and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Really? A guy tries to commit suicide and is now getting involved with the mental health system to get treatment, and we're going to prosecute him as a criminal? I'm not saying that any suicide attempt should entitle someone to get out of prosecution. But in this case, I see no reason to prosecute the defendant. Absolutely none at all.
So I went to my supervisor in an attempt to get approval to withdraw the charges. He disagreed with me. Told me that we should prosecute this guy and that maybe he'd be eligible for diversion in Mental Health Court (he's not, becuase while he has some sort of mental illness, it doesn't qualify as a serious mental illness). So we're going to prosecute this guy, not becuase we should, but because we can.
Fucking ridiculous. An abuse of our discretion as district attorneys.
For a little background, I work with our Treatment Courts: Mental Health Court, Drug Court, and Recovery Court. All three are great programs and after working in my office for about 3 years (both as an intern and full time), I don't believe I would want to work in my office if I wasn't doing the Treatment Courts. The reason is that our office seems to have the mentality of "lets do something because we can, not because we should." However, I have the ability to do what's 'right' working in the Treatment Courts.
And frankly, I'm offended by that philosophy. We have a lot of power as prosecutors: power to charge/not charge, power to decide what (if any) offer to make in a given case, power of a sentence to ask the judge to impose. And merely because a sentence is available doesn't mean we should ask for it. Merely because the elements of a crime could technically be proven, doesn't mean we should charge someone with a crime.
But my office thinks otherwise. They have the mentality that we should do something "because we can, not necessarily because we should."
Case in point. There is a case where a 18 year old man was charged (hereafter the "defendant"). He lives with his mother and they were staying the house of the mother's friends. Police were called after the homeowner noticed a bottle of alcohol was empty and two bottles of her own son's 800mg Ibuprofen pills (a prescription) was empty. None of the three bottles had been empty earlier in the evening. When police arrived, they found the defendant lying on a bed with a 'suicide note' beside him. They noticed that he appeared to be under the influence of something. Based on what they saw, police got an order to involuntarily commit defendant to a psychiatric hospital. While he was being prepared for transport, the homeowner found another empty pill bottle of a muscle relaxer (a controlled substance under PA law). Instead of being taken to the psychiatric hospital, defendant ended up being admitted to intensive care and had to be put on a ventilator (the hospital reported that had defendant been allowed to fall asleep, it is unlikely he would have woken up based on what he took).
So far it sounds fine. Police got an order to involuntary commit defendant to a psychiatric hospital. That's what they should have done...the guy defnitaly needed help. However, the police didn't stop there. They also charged him with underage drinking and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Really? A guy tries to commit suicide and is now getting involved with the mental health system to get treatment, and we're going to prosecute him as a criminal? I'm not saying that any suicide attempt should entitle someone to get out of prosecution. But in this case, I see no reason to prosecute the defendant. Absolutely none at all.
So I went to my supervisor in an attempt to get approval to withdraw the charges. He disagreed with me. Told me that we should prosecute this guy and that maybe he'd be eligible for diversion in Mental Health Court (he's not, becuase while he has some sort of mental illness, it doesn't qualify as a serious mental illness). So we're going to prosecute this guy, not becuase we should, but because we can.
Fucking ridiculous. An abuse of our discretion as district attorneys.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Bathroom ettiquete
I walked into the bathroom at work today. As I was walking in, I sneezed. Somebody (presumably a man) was in one of the stalls and said "bless you."
Two questions:
1) Is that proper ettiquete, to say "bless you" from the shitter?
2) Was I rude to not say "thank you?
Two questions:
1) Is that proper ettiquete, to say "bless you" from the shitter?
2) Was I rude to not say "thank you?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Cover charge is for the alcohol & medical exam
Here is an interesting article. It's about a woman (or possibly a man or a transgender person...the article is not entirely clear) who was arrested after giving 'breast exams' in a bar and nightclub.
Who the hell lets someone feel them up in a bar under the rouse of it being a 'breast exam?' Are people really that stupid in this world?
Let's see what should have tipped these 'victims' off:
1) the arrested woman gave her name as Berlyn Aussieahshowna. That sounds totally legit to me...
2) you're in a BAR (or nightclub)!!!!! I don't care if the person gave you copies of their medical license, you're really going to let someone perform a medical procedure in a BAR???
What kind of alcohol do they serve in Boise???
Who the hell lets someone feel them up in a bar under the rouse of it being a 'breast exam?' Are people really that stupid in this world?
Let's see what should have tipped these 'victims' off:
1) the arrested woman gave her name as Berlyn Aussieahshowna. That sounds totally legit to me...
2) you're in a BAR (or nightclub)!!!!! I don't care if the person gave you copies of their medical license, you're really going to let someone perform a medical procedure in a BAR???
What kind of alcohol do they serve in Boise???
2011 Resloutions
I think it's kind of cheesy to make New Year resolutions, but here's some of the things I want to accomplish in 2011 (broken into categories)...
Health
--Get down to 240 pounds
--Exercise 200 days of the year
--Run a 12 minute mile
Financial
--Pay down my credit card debt so that I owe under $4000
--Establish my 'emergency fund' with $2500 in it
Family/Relationships
--Have my nephew down for at least two weekends
--Get comfortable with myself, so that I can have a relationship with someone
I think these are all feasible, but will require some work. And I think that's enough goals for one year. We'll see how it goes.
Health
--Get down to 240 pounds
--Exercise 200 days of the year
--Run a 12 minute mile
Financial
--Pay down my credit card debt so that I owe under $4000
--Establish my 'emergency fund' with $2500 in it
Family/Relationships
--Have my nephew down for at least two weekends
--Get comfortable with myself, so that I can have a relationship with someone
I think these are all feasible, but will require some work. And I think that's enough goals for one year. We'll see how it goes.
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