Venezuelan Justice Minister says homicides decreased in '07 by 25%! [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

"Even though homicides in some states have increased in the past year, the Minister told the press Monday, the national total decreased from 763 to 573 over the course of 2007." --Justice Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/3401

Some anti-Chavez posters here at DU look for any item they can find to tear down Venezuela's scrupulously lawful, beneficial, democratically elected leftist government. One such poster recently gave us stats on the high homicide rate in Venezuela, without noting this dramatic decrease over the last year, which means that the Chavez government, and local departments and law enforcement agencies have been working hard on the problem. Every country has problems. Ours has the problem of a putrid justice system that has not only been politicized by the Bush Junta, but in which 75% of the people held in our prisons--prisons notorious for the prevalence of rape, overcrowding and other dehumanization--are there serving heavy sentences for non-violent crimes. Our justice system is a disaster--and that is not even to mention the horrors and utter lawlessness of prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Venezuela may have a homicide problem, but they are working on it. What are wedoing?

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In addition to decreasing the homicide rate by 25%, the Chavez government is launching a program to humanize Venezuelan prisons, with an emphasis on family ties, worker coops and rehab. While we punish the poor, often cruelly, for petty crimes, overly-criminalize our society, and engage in the barbaric practice state murder, Venezuela looks for solutions that will improve the lives of prisoners and give them the help they need to turn their lives around.

“'A large part of our effort in the jails is directed at the family,' the minister told the press Monday, explaining that in the new system families of inmates will be permitted to reside nearby and participate regularly in the lives of prisoners who qualify for such forms of rehabilitation.

"Also, the new prisons provide facilities for prisoners to set up cooperatives and socialist production projects in which their families may participate, 'always following the principle that those who go to jail are human beings who may be rehabilitated,' Chacín said." --ibid

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"...always following the principle that those who go to jail are human beings who may be rehabilitated."

It's enough to make me weep, it has been so long since I've heard a humane statement like this from our government officials and politicians. We are cursed with fascist government, which serves corporations who profit from prisons, as from the police state and military boondoggle that our government has become. In Venezuela, they have a government that was actually elected and it therefore has its priorities straight. It serves the people. Does ours?

We had best reform our own society, and democracy, before we pick out the flaws in others, who are making genuine and effective efforts at social justice.

And again I ask--as I did concerning the Chavez-proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for gays and women--what dictator, what tyrant, ever expressed concern for the humanity of prisoners? Chavez is only a tyrant if you think like Donald Rumsfeld...

"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html