Letter to the Editor: Another approach
BY N.J. Deffenbaugh. Bartlesville
Sunday, November 04, 2012
11/04/12 at 3:09 AM
Kelanne Shelton was sentenced last week to 22 years in prison on a manslaughter conviction of driving while she was under the influence of alcohol. Her speeding car killed a Catholic priest and seminary student. Good, you might say. One less drunk on the road. (For comparison, recently another person was sentenced to 15 years for child molestation.)
Or you could ask, is that a good use of our state's resources and does that punishment fit the crime? It is unbelievable how much it costs the state to keep one person in prison for a year. Would justice have been better served to have placed her in a good rehab facility complete with therapy to deal with her reasons for drinking in the first place.
Upon completing that program, she would be in a halfway house or under probation for a length of time and introduced to the AA program. That would be cheaper for the state and give her the opportunity to be a useful member of her family and society.
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