Jesus or jail? Alabama town offers options for serving time - Polidicks

[QUOTE]If you're charged with a nonviolent crime in one Alabama town, you might just have the chance to pray it all away. Starting this week, under a new program called Operation ROC (Restore Our Community), local judges in Bay Minette, Alabama, will give those found guilty of misdemeanors the choice of serving out their time in jail, paying a fine or attending church each Sunday for a year. The goal of the program is to help steer those who are not yet hardened criminals the chance to turn their lives around. Those who choose to go to church (there are no mosques or synagogues in the area) will have to check in with a pastor and the police department each week, CNN affiliate WKRG reported. Once you attend church every week for a year the case would be dismissed. Police Chief Mike Rowland said the measure is one that would help save money and help direct people down the right path. Rowland told WKRG it costs $75 a day to house each inmate. "Longevity is the key," he told WKRG. He said he believes 30-day drug programs don't have the long-term capabilities to heal someone in the ways the ROC program might. Police in the town said they think it is a simple choice, but others think it's a choice that shouldn't even be offered. The ACLU in Alabama said the idea is "blatantly unconstitutional," according to the Alabama Press-Register. "It violates one basic tenet of the Constitution, namely that government can’t force participation in religious activity," Olivia Turner, executive director for the ACLU of Alabama told the paper. Rowland acknowledged there were concerns about separation of church and state complaints but said he didn't see it as too big of a problem because offenders weren't being forced to attend church, they are just being given the option. The offenders who voluntarily choose church over jail get to pick the churches they attend. If they complete a year’s attendance, Rowland said, their criminal case would be dismissed.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/26/jesus-or-jail-alabama-town-offers-options-for-serving-time/?hpt=hp_t2[/url]

Hell i'd choose jail

Pretty sure this is unconstitutional

[QUOTE=Jimmyshimmy;32498687]Hell i'd choose jail[/QUOTE] Hell I'd choose Hell.

This will definitely work and won't cause any issues Yeah don't worry, just pass the collection plate right by the guy who was just convicted of shop lifting

Going to church every Sunday for a year is probably more torture than jail :v:

[QUOTE=Zeke129;32498692]Pretty sure this is unconstitutional[/QUOTE] Judge doesn't think so: [QUOTE]Rowland acknowledged there were concerns about separation of church and state complaints but said he didn't see it as too big of a problem because offenders weren't being forced to attend church, they are just being given the option.[/QUOTE]

Id definitly pay the fine

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;32498706]Judge doesn't think so:[/QUOTE] He's a small town judge Wouldn't be the first time one was wrong

So it's like AA for criminals.

So pretty much 'you wanna be locked up or do you wanna go free?'

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;32498706]Judge doesn't think so:[/QUOTE] Boy am I glad that small town Alabama judges don't have any real law-making ability

They are non-violent crimes though. I'm almost okay with this. I mean, it is an option. If they offered the same kind of option for people that don't believe in any religion, I would be absolutely fine with it.

Meh, I'd rather go to some Church for half an hour then go to jail if I was poor and could not pay the fine.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;32498706]Judge doesn't think so:[/QUOTE]When this eventually makes it to a higher court, it'll be ruled unconstitutional.

[QUOTE=doonbugie2;32498860]Meh, I'd rather go to some Church for half an hour then go to jail if I was poor and could not pay the fine.[/QUOTE]Half an hour? Church sessions are usually 1-2 1/2 hours long

I was initially repelled by the idea, but In honesty it's just a form of community service tailored to that small mostly Christian town. Most churches have volunteering services, outreach programs, and various other things of the sort that are honestly more rehabilitating than American prisons. Don't always take the knee-jerk anti-religious attitude without reading into it a bit.

Couldn't you just take the church option and then just leg it?

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;32498706]Judge doesn't think so:[/QUOTE] That's pretty dumb

I'd choose jail, fuck that shit. Unless I can go to church and sleep

[QUOTE=DanRatherman;32498891]I was initially repelled by the idea, but In honesty it's just a form of community service tailored to that small mostly Christian town. Most churches have volunteering services, outreach programs, and various other things of the sort that are honestly more rehabilitating than American prisons. Don't always take the knee-jerk anti-religious attitude without reading into it a bit.[/QUOTE] Something tells me you wouldn't be so willing to play fast and loose with the constitution if it was the 2nd amendment being messed with

It's only 52 days outta your year

[QUOTE=DanRatherman;32498891]I was initially repelled by the idea, but In honesty it's just a form of community service tailored to that small mostly Christian town. Most churches have volunteering services, outreach programs, and various other things of the sort that are honestly more rehabilitating than American prisons. Don't always take the knee-jerk anti-religious attitude without reading into it a bit.[/QUOTE] True but this just says they have to attend church. Why not skip the middleman and just count volunteer hours like other states usually do?

I hate how they keep finding stupid ways around separation of church and state. Like how they say God on the money/pledge is fine because it doesn't address any specific religion. It leaves out polytheistic people and atheists.

Holy shit, violations of the separation of church and state don't get more egregious than this. This isn't an "option". Anyone who's not a staunch non-Christian will choose church, and have the religion (and politics, this is Alabama after all) that's preached be forced on them. This is beyond sad. That judge should lose her license to practice law just for being OK with that.

I find the whole thing stupid. Don't get religion involved with the government.

What if you already go to church every Sunday? Commit a crime, take the church option, and nothing changes.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;32498934]Something tells me you wouldn't be so willing to play fast and loose with the constitution if it was the 2nd amendment being messed with[/QUOTE] that's how conservatives roll separation of church and state is a myth, but don't you DARE try to regulate my guns yeehaw

[QUOTE=smug.gif;32499074]What if you already go to church every Sunday? Commit a crime, take the church option, and nothing changes.[/QUOTE] In theory, you wouldn't have committed the crime to begin with :v:

I don't see how the option of imprisonment/temporary loss of all liberties versus attending a Christian worship center and activity does not violate the "respecting of an establishment of religion". It isn't community service. It's the belief that Christian worship will reform the offender or help them.