Miles's blog

If you got bored with the Bronco game last night (about which I will say no more so I am not accused of gloating) you might have flipped through the channels and discovered that ABC was televising the Miss America pageant.  Who knew they even had this thing anymore, much less that it was on network television.  But there it was, live from Las Vegas.  

So there were the prime examples of American pulchritude, on display in evening gowns.  If they still have a swimsuit phase I missed it.  But I did get to catch some of the talent competition.  I was switching back and forth between the pageant and the game so I missed some of the talent.  I was most impressed with the piano player (I can’t recall which state she was from) who actually seemed pretty talented.  However while she was giving a rousing rendition of some classical piece, the network flashed on the bottom of the screen that she can play the piano and hula hoop at the same time.  I don’t know why she didn’t do that in the competition.  Now THAT is talent.

The winner was Miss Wisconsin, Laura Kaeppeler, who I guess referenced Aaron Rogers, sang opera, and failed to wear waterproof mascara allowing tears of joy to create black rivulets down her apple cheeks.  She is a pretty young lady with singing talent, and she seems a good representative for America.  Each contestant needs to have a platform to advocate.  I didn’t see this part of the competition, but while our new Miss America was strolling down the runway the announcer said her platform was to help children of jailed parents, which was based on her own experience when her father went to prison for mail fraud.

This took me aback somewhat.  I don’t hold it against Ms, Kaeppeler that she is the daughter of a convicted felon.  It is not her fault her father is a thief.  But I have some problem with such a high profile American advocating help for children of criminals without at least some reference to the victims of their crimes.

MSNBC’s article on the winner interviewed the felonious father.  He went to prison for 18 months.  Our new Miss America apparently suffered during this time and she wants to help criminals’ children deal with their parents’ incarceration.  At first, I was pretty outraged by this platform, but I took a deep breath and realized that as a society we do have an interest in helping the children of prisoners.  Probably the best way to prevent a second generation of criminals is to assist these children see the error of their parents’ ways, to help them secure stable home environments, quality education, and empathy for their fellow human beings.  So, I can get on board, somewhat, for what Kaeppeler wants to do.

However, reading the article and the interview with Mr. Kaeppeler, I see nothing about what they criminal justice system is about—victims and deterrence.  The Kaeppelers apparently see his imprisonment as merely another kind of family obstacle, like an illness or an accident, and they cheer that “God can turn anything into good if you let him.”  I suggest the Kaeppelers have gotten nothing out of his imprisonment.

First and foremost, neither of them discusses his victims.  To go to prison for mail fraud ordinarily suggests a lot of people lost a lot of money.  Has he paid them back?  Does he have remorse?  Does Laura perceive that her father was a slimy criminal, and not merely a disadvantaged dad?  Maybe the answers to all of those questions are yes, but they don’t seem to want to talk about it.  They would rather focus on how they have gained from the experience.  Without some appreciation of how his conduct impacted his victim, I doubt they have gained much.

Also, our new Miss America, while seeking to assist children of prisoners appears to have forgotten one of the reasons we imprison people in the first place: deterrence.  Prisons are supposed to be unpleasant.  The children of prisoners are supposed to feel the loss, while the criminal is meant to suffer the disappointment of separation and the loss of support.  Such negative results for those who steal other people’s money is designed to make people think twice (or a lot more times) before stealing money in the first place.  I don’t see either Kaeppeler spending any time on that concept.  If you treat incarceration as merely another unfortunate circumstance there is no deterrence, either to the individual criminal nor to others who might be contemplating mail fraud.

So while Miss America is going to have a year on a bully pulpit trying to help the children of criminals, I hope someone points out to her that there is another side of imprisonment which is to promote law-abiding behavior to prevent the need to help such children.  Right now, I don’t see an awareness of that.