After digging up some info on the two suspects in my neighbor’s burglary, I found out even more distressing information. Edwards had been arrested March 30th for the very same charge, Breaking and Entering, skipped bail and missed court date, which apparently resulted in his Failure To Appear charge. This is of course all after he was convicted in December of multiple property crimes. I haven’t found out yet what Enyinnaya’s story is but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a similar one.
Where was his probation officer? Who knows? Edwards got a suspended sentence and probation for his December thefts but felt confident enough that he wouldn’t get caught to bust into more homes three months later.
I know probation officers aren’t supposed to be a probationer’s nanny but they should at least be able to help get that felon’s life back on track. They can’t make a crook stop committing crimes, but they can offer them alternatives.
Finding this out today made me angry. No wonder why cops are so cynical about the punishment crooks get. No wonder why crooks feel so empowered and unfazed by the punishment we dole out to them. We slap them on the wrist and we promptly forget about them.
Now the North Carolina General Assembly’s latest budget doesn’t fund an improved probation plan that could solve a lot of these problems. Lawmakers are being penny wise and pound foolish and the result will be more criminals becoming repeat offenders and waning effectiveness of crime deterrence.
No matter what side of the aisle one occupies, providing resources to promote pubic safety should be a no-brainer. You can’t simply lock people up and expect prison to reform them. The state needs to follow up and make sure these people get their lives back on track.
It seems that lawmakers have already forgotten about Eve Carson.