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America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. With five percent of the world's population, our country houses twenty-five percent of the world's prison population. Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980. And four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals. We should be devoting precious law enforcement capabilities toward making our communities safer. Our neighborhoods are at risk from gang violence, including transnational gang violence ... There is great appreciation from most in this country that we are doing something drastically wrong.I wish I could believe the last line in that quote were true, but I think that has more to due with education the public. Perhaps this commission will accomplish that.
We cannot continue to lock up so many of our people. We have to address why we are locking up so many people. We have to look at our laws and determine if some are outdated, maybe infeasible, perhaps even stupid. We have to address the root cause of so much of the crime that takes place in our country: poverty. We need to make sure that our police forces are well-trained, well-paid and well-supplied to act as a proper deterrent to crime.
There are no easy answers to the problem of crime, but the standard conservative response of locking as many people as possible away isn't working. No one should be surprised.
Source - Talking Points Memo
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