Defendants “don’t just go scot-free,” Wiseman said.
“Offenders on probation can still be supervised at a fraction of the cost of incarcerating them,” he added.
If a person on probation violates the term and conditions of his probation, he will be rearrested and locked up, the judge said.
“Substantial welfare savings accrue from probationers’ support of their own families while at the same time the economy at large profits from their continued contributions of labor.”
Wiseman was guest speaker during yesterday’s general membership meeting of Saipan Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber president Doug Brennan told the Variety that they were “concerned about the increase in crime in our community.”
The business community has also “questions about why it seems so many of those who are arrested walk-away scot-free or with seemingly light sentences.”
In his presentation, Wiseman said “the very core of any civilized society is dependent on the indispensable existence and adherence to the rule of law.”
He added: “The court system plays an indispensable part in the maintenance of that rule of law because absent such system these things we take for granted would be in chaos and threaten our daily lives.”
Wiseman said sentencing decisions should be designed to ensure that prison resources are, “first and foremost, reserved for those violent and serious criminal offenders who pose the most dangerous threat to the society.”
The court must also consider the background and record of a defendant and give serious consideration to the goals of sentencing and assure the ends of justice, Wiseman said.
He said in cases involving non-violent and non-serious crimes, “the interests of society as a whole, as well as the individual victims of crime can continue to be served through the imposition of a short jail sentence or probation along with other conditions such as fines, restitution, probation, and community service.”
He believes that most people violating criminal laws usually do not know the severe penalty they will face.
“The deterrent factor does not work if the people we need to deter do not know about it,” he said.
“We need to develop a program to broadcast and publicize the deterrent factors in ways and in places that the criminal element will take notice of.”
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