When you don't punish people, they repeat the bad behavior

I'm not for an authoritarian state, I am not in favor of mass surveillance for crime prevention. I am in favor of punishments being harsh enough that the people who do the crimes in the first place maybe think twice about repeating said behavior.

In most of North Carolina, the state I have called home almost my entire life, we also have the right for people to protect their lives and property with lethal force if necessary, and I am very much in favor of this.

Not all of the state agrees though, and while I don't want to make this overly left vs. right, the areas that have overruled the state ways of doing things with local policies are almost always "blue" cities. Asheville, which is a word that people who don't live her have probably heard of, is the most "blue" part of the state and has taken away open and concealed carry laws inside the city, and has extremely lax policies as far as punishment for crimes is concerned. For something that thinks like me, this kind of encourages people to commit crimes there and this would just be human nature right? you go to the area of least resistance.

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This guy right here is named Nick Crowder, and he has been caught on CCTV many times breaking into a business in downtown Asheville after they were closed and stealing a number of items. Employees in the past have informed officers (I guess detectives) that they know who he is and know where to find him as well. In all but one situation the police didn't even bother to follow up on this. In the one and only situation where police apprehended him a judge released him on unsecured bond and guess what? Dude didn't turn up for his hearing. Big surprise!

Well also, he went back and broke into a business and stole more things from them and not only was it in the same area, it was the same business.

This time police sprung into action and while this is not their official word, it was probably because there was now a warrant for his arrest due to not turning up for court. Isn't it a bit nuts that when the government thinks they have been slighted by you not being where they tell you to be at a certain time on a certain day, this somehow initiates a greater amount of urgency than a business that is being repeatedly victimized by the same person.

What really rubs salt into this is that even after being arrested he then assaulted an officer causing injury (no idea what the injury was) and being charged with failure to appear and 8 counts of breaking and entering with larceny, the judge awarded him a very low bail of $50,000.

Let me tell you how bail works in NC. You get a bail bondsman who fronts the cash to you and you only need something like 10% of it to secure this. Then the bail bondsman takes it upon themselves to make sure to always know where you are while at the same time charging an extortionate interest rate that would be illegal for almost any other industry. It is in my mind a crime itself but it is also very easy to acquire. There are advertisements around magistrate offices and the officers there perhaps get some sort of commission for telling you to go to a specific bondsman.

Here's the thing about Nick (the criminal in question). Do you really think that a guy that would be so brash as to break into the same business 8 times really cares about what the law says he has to do? When all he gets is a slap on the wrist every time he is brought in, there really isn't much incentive for him to change his ways.

It makes me very angry because Asheville, just like New Bern where I live, has the ability to curb all of this. In New Bern we have open and concealed carry and the ability to use lethal force if we catch someone in the act of breaking and entering. In Asheville, if you shoot someone that is breaking into your house or business it is likely you, not the criminal, that is going to face charges and jail time.

That to me just seems incredibly backwards and I also feel this is directly the reason why Asheville has a much higher crime rate than where I live.

Am I wrong? Tell me how if you think so because I'm willing to listen to someone if they have a different opinion than me. I just don't see how being really light on punishment for crimes benefits anyone other than criminals.