The Left and some astonishingly stupid “conservatives” long ago signed on to what they opaquely call “criminal justice reform.” The name is opaque for a reason, to wit, that the truthful name would be “shorter sentences and early release for violent criminals.” Since the public is not about to buy any such program if called what it is, a fuzzy and marvelously dishonest name had to be cooked up.
The “astonishingly stupid ‘conservatives’” referenced in the first sentence leave me bewildered. I know a few of them, and they’re not really stupid; they would insist they are merely faithful libertarians. But the problem is that their distrust of government is so intense as to be unhinged. They inexpicably seem to forget—or perhaps they never came to fully appreciate—that the freedoms they so cherish require greater protection than any one individual can provide for himself. Society thus depends on government to protect national security against foreign threats and to ensure domestic tranquility against the threats to life, limb, and property posed by the criminal element that lives among us. Government power—thus limited and properly deployed—does not undermine libertarian values, but promotes them. Let’s hope Rand Paul, Chuck Grassley, Mike Lee and other jail-break libertarians will come to their senses and never again act like they don't understand this.
While agreeing with most points raised here regarding violent offenders and even the 'not quite violent' offenders from the more violent subcultures, one line stands out as wrong to the point of silliness. One half of one percent, one in 200, would certainly be mass casualties in an attack at a mall or stadium. That said, I am entirely in favor of mass incarceration of violent criminals, and lean towards the same for the offenders likely to be violent due to their subculture. That's not racism, that's reality.
The problem with "leniency" is that it perpetuates bad behavior. Almost all law-breaking activity involves at some level a risk/reward calculation. The less likely that there are severe (or any) consequences for illegal/immoral activity, the more likely more people will engage in that activity. Once this cycle begins you are actually creating more law breakers and eventually greater incarceration rates. Liberals actually know this, otherwise why would they be so anxious to hire 87,000 IRS agents. That's why the 'broken window' policy of law enforcement actually not only lowered all levels of crime, but also incarceration rates over time.
The “astonishingly stupid ‘conservatives’” referenced in the first sentence leave me bewildered. I know a few of them, and they’re not really stupid; they would insist they are merely faithful libertarians. But the problem is that their distrust of government is so intense as to be unhinged. They inexpicably seem to forget—or perhaps they never came to fully appreciate—that the freedoms they so cherish require greater protection than any one individual can provide for himself. Society thus depends on government to protect national security against foreign threats and to ensure domestic tranquility against the threats to life, limb, and property posed by the criminal element that lives among us. Government power—thus limited and properly deployed—does not undermine libertarian values, but promotes them. Let’s hope Rand Paul, Chuck Grassley, Mike Lee and other jail-break libertarians will come to their senses and never again act like they don't understand this.
While agreeing with most points raised here regarding violent offenders and even the 'not quite violent' offenders from the more violent subcultures, one line stands out as wrong to the point of silliness. One half of one percent, one in 200, would certainly be mass casualties in an attack at a mall or stadium. That said, I am entirely in favor of mass incarceration of violent criminals, and lean towards the same for the offenders likely to be violent due to their subculture. That's not racism, that's reality.
The problem with "leniency" is that it perpetuates bad behavior. Almost all law-breaking activity involves at some level a risk/reward calculation. The less likely that there are severe (or any) consequences for illegal/immoral activity, the more likely more people will engage in that activity. Once this cycle begins you are actually creating more law breakers and eventually greater incarceration rates. Liberals actually know this, otherwise why would they be so anxious to hire 87,000 IRS agents. That's why the 'broken window' policy of law enforcement actually not only lowered all levels of crime, but also incarceration rates over time.
Don Burden