Grafitti vandals

[Carter711]

Here's an editorial the Providence Journal ran arguing that Rhode Island should have the option of imposing jail sentences on convicted grafitti artists. According to the Projo, Rhode Island, unlike Massachusetts, does not currently let judges impose prison sentences.

Jail for graffiti 'artists'

http://www.projo.com/opinion/editorials/co...af.31fe0b0.html

What do you think?

[JJK5]

graffiti "is an act of violence against the community."

I agree. Scrawling your tag on private property isn't "art" or self-expression. It's not a deep graphical commentary on the state of society. It's trash and it makes the city look like trash. If you have to express yourself so bad, buy an easel or spraypaint your own place.

[brick]

They should have the option but I don't think they should exercise it very much.

For one, because of the low risk of apprehension, I doubt that jail time is going to deter anyone but the most casual "artists" from spraying their tags everywhere. Maybe it would stop the RISD kids who do it for fun.

For two, while I'm sure there are a few taggers who have other things going on, for the most part these guys are shiftless degenerate types. Sending shiftless degenerate but otherwise innocuous people to jail can turn them into real criminals. We don't need any more of those.

As I proposed in the graffiti thread - community service removing tags and doing other works for the parks department. Give some of these idiots waders and make them pick all the trash out of the Waterplace Park basin, for instance. And make it so that property owners can open a civil case against these guys for damages to their properties.

I suspect, however, that the problem with Providence graffiti is not one of weak law, but of weak enforcement. I'm sure if the police had the time to actual catch and charge every graffiti artist they found and just the current law was enforced, we would have much less of a problem. Making the law more strict isn't going to make enforcement any better. It's not like these guys are getting caught and then given their slap on the wrist and released. They're just not getting caught.

[DaveRPI]

JAIL, not years, but cmon, some of these tags are in the worst places.

imagine them spraying their art-less tags all over your house and then tell me what you would want to happen if someone does it

heck, my grandma who lives in the arlington neighborhood of cranston had a huge tag sprayed on her foundation which abutted the street. now, how is she going to fix that? the city wont do anything. the kid- nowhere to be found. 10 days in jail, plus they have to paint or fix it.

1st of all, if its not gang-related, the city should reach out to some of these kids to do the work on city apprvoved walls which may already be an eyesore. this is only if the kid has a gift for art, not just scribbling psuedonyms. give them design criteria and let them know that it has to be appropriate

at the base of it all is someone who is craving attention, so they are allowed to destroy public/private property and the city/state's image to toursists [which is a main industry of RI]????????

[markOne]

They should have the option but I don't think they should exercise it very much.

community service removing tags and doing other works for the parks department. Give some of these idiots waders and make them pick all the trash out of the Waterplace Park basin, for instance. And make it so that property owners can open a civil case against these guys for damages to their properties.

The threat of jail should be there, but I agree it should be used in extreme cases only. Forced clean up of both their tags and other eyesores combined with enforced financial liability would make tagging less attractive. Even if they perpetrator is broke they should feel some financial pain. Something like what is done with parking fines; set up a payment plan which works for them (a few dollars a week if that is all they can afford) with consequences for missing payments. I would think loosing a driver's license could be a good incentive to keep up on the payments. Every payment would be a reminder of what it costs to be a vandal. The money could also be used to help defray some of the enforcement costs.

imagine them spraying their art-less tags all over your house and then tell me what you would want to happen if someone does it

This is true. When it's your property it takes on a new dimension. The house just down from mine just had to paint an old hitching post white because they couldn't get a tag off of the natural stone. They will now probably be in a cycle of endlessly painting that post as the taggers see a nice white canvas to hit. Little things like that tag seem insignificant, but they negatively impact neighborhoods in subtle, yet important, ways.

[gregw]

Anyone notice that they finally--after like two years-- painted over the graffiti on the purple section of the Point Street Bridge? While I sympathized with the IMPEACH sign, which recently replaced some ugly tag, it's good to see the anti-graffiti task force at work. Let's hope it lasts after the election.

[dgreco]

new grafitti at prospect park, some circular blue stuff around the top of the monument. up until then I had only seen grafitti at the bottom.