What Is Wrong With Our Justice System?

Indianapolis has had one of the bloodiest months of January and February for several years. As of this writing, the first two months of the year have resulted in 31 homicides.

Why is this happening?

There's a lot of talk about community involvement and problems with society and guns and stuff. I think those issues, if they are problems, are not going to be solved in a day. They're far more complex and are not cut and dry.

But there is something that we can fix in the near future.

Our system of justice is broken.

Before I go on, let me say: I am a supporter of rehabilitation offenders. I want them to serve their sentence and be appropriately punished, but I also want them to be able to walk out those doors and live as peaceful, productive members of society.

But I also believe that those who commit crimes need to serve the time.

And those charged with crimes, particularly those that involve violent acts on other people, should be handled appropriately so the victims aren't living in fear during the trial.

So why is an attempted murder suspect, who is very much a flight risk, able to waltz out of the Marion County Jail after only posting $2,500?

Or why is a guy who fired shots into a downtown crowd later able to walk away from prison in less than three years of an eight year sentence? Oh, also, he was arrested shortly after being released and is still pending trial on several forgery charges. And part of the reason his sentence was only eight years long was because of an incredibly lenient plea deal that the Marion County Prosecutor's Office agreed to.

The piece of garbage who shot IMPD Officer Bradway, again, had a rap sheet.

I'm not saying the judge and the justice system are completely to blame. Maybe our corrections department aren't doing much corrections and we need to take a look at what we're doing to rehabilitate offenders.

But having a halfway decent sentence for violent offenders seems to make sense to me.

But maybe that's just me