Comments on: Justice Minister urges courts to stop sending offenders to prison

By: M McD

M McD — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:35:00 +0000

This is one of the dumbest things I have heard in this country. “We don’t have room so lets let criminals go and send fewer in.” Build more goddamn prisons and get rid of this bullshit that prior criminal acts may not be introduced by the prosecution at court. As I understand it, when the accused stands before a judge, the judge may have zero knowledge of their previous criminal behavior and, even if they do, must rule based solely on the facts of the case before them, regardless of the accused being a threat to society.What is this, the country of 1000 strikes and you’re out crime prevention?

By: john anthony

john anthony — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:30:00 +0000

They will need room for the British backpacker now that he just got a 25 year sentence. Make that 13,755

By: mhogan

mhogan — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 04:59:00 +0000

The Justice Minister, the President, and the Government have turned their backs on law and order. God help all of us who live within the borders of this now-lawless country.

By: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:24:00 +0000

You’re kidding right?
They’d build an escape-proof prison, no doubt.

By: disgusted

disgusted — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 19:01:00 +0000

This is the mentality of Costa Rica or just Justice Minister Ana Isabel Garit?? Or is this part of President Chinchilla as well?? We have too many criminals and no more prison space therefore do not incarcerate them, WHAT! This is why crime pays and victims get no justice. I sort of agree with about every comment. More prisons beds a good thing.

By: Aitor Xaranga

Aitor Xaranga — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:46:00 +0000

CR needs to re-open San Lucas island on the Golfo de Nicoya, this time with improved humanitarian-minded facilities, designed to keep criminals well-fed, in idle bliss and perhaps we can all live in peace. Oh, and of course, we’ll need to raise taxes to pay for this new “resort”!

By: Ken Morris

Ken Morris — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:34:00 +0000

Out of curiosity, I just calculated the incarceration rate at a bit over 300 per 100,000. This is lower than the US at 743 and Russia at 577, but higher than Canada’s 117 and China’s 120. Since CR has a relatively young (thus crime-prone) population and attracts foreign criminals, it probably shouldn’t have incarceration rates as low as say Canada’s, but on the other hand its rate is already 2.5 times higher than Canada’s and I personally wouldn’t want to see it as high as the US’s (the highest incarceration rate in the world) or Russia’s. Plus, incarceration is a notoriously ineffective deterrent for crime. It looks like CR may need to build some additional prison capacity, although the search for alternatives will probably pay greater dividends in the long run.

By: con yellow

con yellow — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:46:00 +0000

Yes build more prisons, a no brainer. So many crimes here are committed by repeat (20~50 previous) offenders. Lock them up. And this guy wants to put them back on the street so they can rob, rape and even kill.

By: PublicEnemy2u

PublicEnemy2u — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:25:00 +0000

If you think sending less criminals to prison will work, so will sending less tourists to criminals. I hear the cartels are hiring and don’t care if the roads suck.

By: Joe1047

Joe1047 — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 15:23:00 +0000

I am surprised they don’t just ask the Chinese to build some new ones for them.