EDITORIAL
Punishments must
be constitutional
Innovations in probation art) becoming commonplace
in the U.S. legal system. But sometimes those innova
tions seem outlandish and then we end up with a pro
bation violation.
Take the case of Lisa Ann Kephart.
In 1992 Kephart narrowly avoided prison for criminal
mistreatment. The charge stems from Kophart's failure,
in the eyes of the court, to protect her children from the
horrendous beatings she suffered at the hands of her for
mer husband.
Kephart was put on probation, One of the conditions
of her probation was that she avoid abusive relationships
and obtain counseling to understand and counteract her
psychological dependence on abusive men.
Kephart. however, did not keep her promise. She
served 90 days in jail in 1992 when she fled with an
allegedly abusive man and lied to her probation officer
And last Friday Kephart admitted during questioning by
a judge, her latest companion had knocked her teeth out.
The judge in the Kephart case sentenced the woman to
six months in prison for her violation.
t hough the Kephart i ase is very interesting, it is only
part of a bigger picture
We would like to applaud the judge in the Kephart
case for trying to come up with a solution that he or she
thought would benefit Kephart and her children. We
understand the reasoning behind this action. But we
question the effectiveness and constitutionality of mea
sures such as this one.
How can parole officers realistically regulate the
behavior of parolees like Kephart? What arc they going
to do. move in with the parolee? Is punishing the parolee
after the fact going to have the desired effect?
But more than that, wo are < oncernod with tho con
stitutionality of punishments like this one. We under
stand Kophart’s children were at risk and that is why the
judge in the case felt compelled to bar her from abusive
relationships. But this kind of punishment does not rec
oncile with the growing concern this country has for the
lack of personal responsibility its citizens are showing.
In tho past few years, personal responsibility has been
tho topic of many books, including infamous defense attor
ney Alan Dershowitz’s "Abus*” Excuse" and Charles Sykes’
"A Nation of Victims". Around the country people are
fed up with criminals who try to blame their actions on
alcohol and drug abuse or other people. They want crim
inals to take responsibility for themselves. How can one
take responsibility for one's seif if someone else is con
trolling one's behavior? It is a direct contradiction.
There needs to bo a balance.
We think innovative ideas are very important in a jus
tice system that has not been seriously restructured in
more than 200 years, but not at the expense of individ
ual constitutional rights.
Oregon Daily
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■ OPINION
Parking tickets actually help students
Pail Van Sk Kit
1
Everybody's whining about
the parking situation on cam
pus Disgruntled students
employ such phrases as "l never
can find a parking space," or 'll
costs so much to park on cam
pus," or even, “Those ticket peo
ple are out to get me!"
A little logic will tell you that
none of these is a reasonable
complaint. Further analysis
might tell you that legitimate
motivations exist for the lack of
parking space or the profusion
of the University Office of Pub
lic Safety ticket officers.
It never seems to have
occurred to anyone the Univer
sity doesn’t ai tualiy want you to
park on campus. Besides the
environmental and political
problems associated with dri
ving. which we all know about
— the carbon-monoxide, the
traffic congestion, the support of
fast.ist oil-producing (.artels —
there are also economic con
cerns Every person who drives
his or her car onto campus costs
the University money in road
repair and parking enforcement
l‘m sure the school would much
rather spend that money on our
educations or even on increased
security for non-driving stu
dents
Instead. OPS is forced to
spend horrendous amounts of
money trying to make sure no
one person monopolizes any
parking space, sometimes two,
and tries to keep non-students
from using the lots you helped
pay for when you got your per
mit
Therefore, it seems obvious
why the school isn’t rushing out
to pave more parking lots, or
paint more spaces or buy
Kugene city motors off campus.
It would appear OPS doesn't
want you to park on campus
They don't want to spend your
money on parking anymore than
you want them to Nevertheless,
nobody seems to he getting the
hint.
So when 1 see a student get a
parking ticket, do they take it
quietly, reveling in the satisfac
tion the campus security is actu
ally trying to save you money
and keep the campus green'
Hardly Many an OPS fluores
cent-vested meter-maid/man has
l>een tormented by the ungrate
ful student who just didn't feel
like paying the meter that day.
Parking officers, students just
like you and me. are suddenly
agents of Satan and "bitches", or
better. “You asshole!" as if the
officer is the reason the student
drove to campus or didn't bring
enough quarters.
A friend of mine who works
as a parking-officer on campus
compared tier experiences to her
previous job at a video store
Often, customers would come in
to find they had a late fee on
their account because they
didn't return the movie on time.
Instead of paying the fee and
atoning for their own sin —
nobody but themselves was
responsible — they would com
plain She's been called names
and yelled at. but only because
she was doing her job and trying
to deter that person from return
ing another movie overdue.
It is exactly the same for park
ing on campus. Aside from the
reasons 1 stated already, OPS
parking offic ers are doing better
than a video store They are rais
ing money for the school. Think
about it — If the average officer
issues even 50 $5 tic kets a day,
170 days a vear (the approxi
mate number of days we arte
ac tually in school), ho or she
could earn over $42,500 for the
school! That's just one officer.
So maybe the meter people
are out to get you. Because OPS
wants to make money from the
school and because of the short
age of parking available on cam
pus. they want to make sure
every person who deserves it
receives a ticket. They are
attempting to deter you from
parking on campus, where there
obviously isn’t enough room for
everybody.
So I try to think about the
parking problem as a good thing.
It helps save the earth, it saves
tioth the city and the University
a lot of money and it teac hes
you a lesson about sharing.
Considering the efforts the
school is making in trying to
save the environment and make
you a better person through
denying us parking for every
individual. I hereby grant you
some advice next time you get a
parking ticket and see the
responsible OPS officer nearby:
Instead of screaming about
excessive enforcement or misal
location of police effort, tell
them “Thank you."
Paul Van Sickle is a columnist
for the Emerald