[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: What does Shakespeare have to say about crimes and social misbehavior...

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

Dear colleagues:


As I read through the material for our discussion tomorrow night, my mind wandered:


What does Shakespeare have to say about crimes and social misbehavior that may be helpful in addressing the criminal conduct that occurs in a cluster on the Municipal campus? 


As I thought about the disregard of law that is revealed in the statistics provided on criminal and contemptuous conduct, I thought of banishment as a substitute for incarceration in the County jail. Why not? Boulder is a nice place to hang out and do
 WTF you want to--that is the context for the behavior that is reflected in the stats.


You will all remember that to be banished from Verona was a sentence worse than death to Romeo, upon whom the Prince pronounced a sentence of banishment when Romeo and his buddies got into a street fight with the Capulets.


Here is how Romeo characterized his sentence in Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene 3--he was speaking to the friar:


Friar Lawrence, telling Romeo of the Prince's sentence:
Hence from Verona art thou banishèd.

Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.




Romeo to the Friar:

Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say “death,”
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death. Do not say “banishment.”
*
* *
*





More honorable state, more courtship lives

In carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize

On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand

And steal immortal blessing from her lips,

Who even in pure and vestal modesty,

Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.

But Romeo may not. He is banishèd.

Flies may do this, but I from this must fly.

They are free men, but I am banishèd.

And sayst thou yet that exile is not death?

Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife,

No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,

But “banishèd” to kill me?—“Banishèd”!

O Friar, the damnèd use that word in hell.

Howling attends it. How hast thou the heart,

Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin-absolver, and my friend professed,

To mangle me with that word “banishèd”?





It seems a double hit that citizens should have to endure repeated acts of criminal behavior that are peculiarly offenses against the people who live here, and then, adding a financial penalty to the insult that has been afflicted, to pay the high expense
 of incarceration. 


Therefore, I thought that a less costly and more effective solution may be to banish offenders from the City of Boulder for the periods of time suggested in the memo at pp. 39-40 rather than to sentence them to as many days in jail. There are constitutional
 limits to banishment. But I am not sure that those limits would prohibit us from using it here. 


Every ticket that is issued, every criminal court case, starts by framing the issues, thus: 


The People of the City of Boulder


vs. 


John Doe Defendant. 


This lays out a context for the Defendant: you are in our court, because you are charged with an offense against the peace of this City, and the charges are brought in the name of the People. Repeated acts of (mostly) petty criminality (the memo lists
 hundreds of offenses during a 12-month period) by intransigent offenders is enabled by a social network of which the offender is a part. Send the offender packing--out of range of the support network that has countenanced the behavior--for at least a period
 of time. Banishment would clearly send the message: we do not find that behavior acceptable. Go to a different place where you will have to reform your behavior in order to get the things you need in life. Rejoin us when you have learned to behave. And during
 the 90 days that an offender is banished from hanging out in this beautiful city, s/he may develop a set of friends and relationships in another venue that are more healthful and productive for her/him.














Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member





1726 Mapleton Ave.








Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 447-3062
(303) 638-6884