The Death of 'Criminal Justice Reform'

Are there are any other issues confronting our fractious republic that matter if Americans themselves are too scared to walk outside, lest they be mugged by a "bail reform"-freed perp or shot by a gangbanger in a drive-by shooting? As we get ready to close the chapter on this bloody year of 2021, that is the question all policymakers and all public-minded citizens ought to be asking themselves.

Fortunately, if there is a silver lining to be found amid the unprecedented urban looting, the horrific anecdotes of children shot while playing outside and the historic overall homicide rates afflicting so many of America's biggest cities, it is that many seem to be arriving at a long-overdue and much-welcomed consensus: The era of "criminal justice reform" is finally over.

The national murder rate in 2020 rose over 30% on a year-by-year basis, as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis soon unleashed a hellish summer of riotous mayhem. But murder rates in 2021 have only further spiked, even compared to that harrowing baseline of one year prior. The Manhattan Institute's Rafael Mangual broke it down in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed: "Philadelphia just shattered its all-time annual homicide record with a full month remaining in 2021, as have Louisville, Ky.; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; St. Paul, Minn.; Portland, Ore.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Fayetteville, N.C. Other cities, like Cincinnati; Trenton, N.J.; Memphis, Tenn.; Milwaukee; Kansas City, Mo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Denver; Cleveland; Jackson, Miss.; Wichita, Kan.; Greensboro, N.C.; Lansing, Mich.; and Colorado Springs, Colo., saw their highest homicide tallies since 1990 last year."

Most recently, the Democratic mayor of the most iconic far-left city in America, San Francisco, pulled no punches in her condemnation of anarchy. In the aftermath of numerous well-publicized instances of looting and vandalizing in downtown San Francisco and its surrounding needle-bestrewn and feces-bespeckled environs, Mayor London Breed unloaded: "The reign of criminals in our city, it is time for it to come to an end. And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policy, and less tolerant of all the bulls--- that has destroyed our city." Hear, hear.

In recent decades, progressives and libertarians, from far-left activist George Soros to the right-of-center Texas Public Policy Foundation, have often made common cause on a cancerous "criminal justice reform" agenda. That agenda usually prioritizes minimizing or eliminating bail, reducing criminal sentences, abolishing qualified immunity, electing anti-prosecution district attorneys, downsizing police departments and other decivilizational measures.

God willing, it seems like the jig may finally be up. Republicans have by-and-large moved back toward their traditional law-and-order posture, and even many Democrats seem fed up with our roiling national bedlam. "Criminal justice reform," it seems, may have finally met its death sentence.

Here’s the reality that nobody’s willing to talk about: the “inner city” is breeding sociopaths. They are male and female sociopaths, but it’s the men who are doing most of the violence. The women sociopaths breed new generations of violent thugs.

After a certain age, they are what they are, and will not change or “reform”. The only thing to do with them is to cage them up or kill them.

And nobody has the stomach to do that.

What never gets discussed is that modern society has FAR MORE ‘Criminal Justice Reform’ already built-in than anything before it. Just the fact that the ACLU is permitted to operate and the Democrats who openly support violence haven’t (yet) been jailed attest to that. But so do other things, such as zero physical punishment or torture (other than for the Jan 6th protesters) and zero capital punishment, except for adult killers, giving inmates better food than is served in public schools...pretty much an endless list.

We’ve gone to the limit of being ‘nice’ to bad guys and tested going beyond that during our prior round of ‘Criminal Justice Reform’ in the 1970s. We’ve now tested going beyond the limit again, and got the same results again.

I don’t know how many times we’ll keep testing limits, but at some point, people will push back in the other direction and start going back to some of the older ways of dealing with criminals...and many here, me included, will be happy to see that.

Here’s hoping…….

But common sense is not a hallmark of the left.

OTOH, midterms are coming up. I wonder how many of these folks doing their about face are up for re-election.

The problem is not criminal justice reform. The problem is when Progressive get hold of it and take an idea meant to protect Constitutional rights and protect against malicious prosecutions and turn it into carte blanche for criminals.

An example bail is often excessive but the answer is not to do away with it all together especially for repeat offenders. The answer is to set bail according to the offense, the history of the accused and the danger he likely presents to the community. The person’s ability to pay (or raise) the bail should also be taken into account. What defines excessive is subject to the severity of the crime a person is being held for.

To progressives it meant no bail for any crime. We see how that worked out. Just as they hoped.

Problem is, the malicious Soros DA’s are still in power in various cities, sabotaging any attempt to crack down on the criminals

and the criminals know it, that’s why they’re so brazen mow

they got nothing to be afraid of

To progressives it meant no bail for any crime. We see how that worked out. Just as they hoped.

The left seems to longer believe in punishment at all. They say "too many people are in prison", so they have started letting them out. They "see" all punishment as unjust. I was reading the New Yorker review of the new Spielberg West Side Story. In the review the critic complains that the character of Tony has been changed into an ex-con. Here is what he wrote:

(Tony) avoids the Jets because he doesn’t want to jeopardize his parole. When Riff tries to persuade him to take part in the “rumble” with the Sharks anyway, Tony explains that he’d spent his time in prison examining himself ruefully and resolving to live differently. Whatever Spielberg and Kushner may have had in mind, what they deliver with this simplistic backstory is an endorsement of incarceration: the movie makes clear that Tony came out of prison a better person than he went in.

That is the leftist/progressive viewpoint. He is actually criticizing Spielberg for suggesting that Tony may have reformed due to a short prison stint. They do not seem to believe in punishment at all. Conservatives need to run for office ona "Build More Prisons" platform.

I guess that reviewer has not been mugged yet. “Conservatives need to run for office ona ‘Build More Prisons’” platform.

I think a better platform would be “Close the revolving door.” Also the hostility towards faith based reform programs needs to be called out and eliminated. Reforms that prevent overcrowding would be good too. It would be one thing if released due to such were limited to low level offenders but that is not what happens. So if keeping such low level offenders incarcerated in alternatives to prisons means the hardcores serve their full time, I’m good with that.

It would be great if certain judges and DAs would just stop turning wastes of carbon loose on the rest of us.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.