Posted on 02/24/2015 8:44:47 AM PST by Kaslin
Criminal justice reform has been a hot topic lately. It’s something that both Republicans and Democrats can find common ground on. However, I get the sense that many Americans aren’t convinced that it would benefit them personally.
Most of us are probably law-obeying citizens whom would never dream of being involved in illicit activities. We don’t have regular run-ins with the police. We don’t sell or use illegal drugs. We’re just normal people trying to do what’s right and take care of our families.
So, why should non-criminals care about criminal justice reform?
First, eliminating or reducing mandatory minimum sentences would benefit everyone.
By law, people convicted of certain crimes must spend a minimum number of years in prison. The problem with this approach is that it takes away discretion from judges and punishes different offenders the same.
To their chagrin, judges cannot reduce someone’s sentence if they think it’s unfair based on individual circumstances. There are many examples of people with no prior convictions being sentenced to 5, 10, or 20 mandatory years in prison for non-violent petty crimes.
Mandatory minimums are a big reason why the prison population has exploded over the past few decades. The number of drug-offenders in prison has increased 21 times since mandatory minimums went into effect in 1980. Nearly half of all federal prisoners are serving time for drugs.
There are several reasons why you should care about the overpopulated prison population. Keep in mind that you’re paying for their stay with your taxes. Fiscal conservatives should think twice before supporting taxpayers subsidizing all the costs of imprisoned drug users.
Due to overcrowded jails, some violent offenders (think: rapists and child molesters) are being released early to make room for non-violent drug offenders required to serve a set amount of years.
The Smarter Sentencing Act would reduce federal mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders: from 20-10-5 to 10-5-2, respectively. The Department of Justice finds that it would save taxpayers $23.9 billion over the next 20 years.
It’s a step in the right direction.
Secondly, civil asset forfeiture reform would benefit everyone.
Civil asset forfeiture has allowed police departments to seize private property from people suspected of a crime and sell it for a profit. Someone does not necessarily need to be convicted or even arrested to get their property taken away from them.
It could affect you someday. There are instances of people getting their houses or cars taken away because someone else was accused of committing a crime in or on your property. So, be careful about who you let borrow your car.
Not all civil asset forfeiture cases have to do with drugs. Have you ever gambled with your friends? There are examples of SWAT Teams raiding otherwise peaceful high-stake poker games and seizing all the cash. In one instance, they stole $150,000.
This puts many police officers in an unwanted position too. Police officers will tell you that they don’t make the laws—they only enforce them. I’m sure most will privately say that they have better things to do than raid a home with ten men playing poker in the basement.
The FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act would require the government to prove its case by producing clear and compelling evidence before assets may be considered “forfeited.”
It’s an improvement.
Lastly, allowing adults an opportunity to seal non-violent criminal records will benefit everyone.
Many of us have made mistakes in our youth. All of our recent presidents have tried pot. Polls show that nearly half of Americans admit they have too. (It’s safe to assume that some people were not entirely honest to pollsters.)
Some of us got lucky and didn’t get caught. But others have their youthful mistakes follow them around for a lifetime. Many ex-offenders have trouble finding employment. This sometimes leads to them towards a life of crime, or being dependent on taxpayer-funded welfare.
The REDEEM Act would create a path for people who have demonstrated the will to be rehabilitated, to expunge their records of non-violent offenses so that they are able to become productive members of society.
Criminal justice reform will benefit everyone from overtaxed law-obeying citizens to ex-offenders seeking redemption. It’s an issue that has transcended party lines, and the time to fix America’s broken criminal justice system is now.
What could go wrong? </Sarc>
It depends on how this is implemented, but there is a lot of good that could come from reform.
Many ex-offenders have trouble finding employment. This sometimes leads to them towards a life of crime, or being dependent on taxpayer-funded welfare.
This is true. Many sentences that are not that long for crimes not that bad end up being life sentences, because they then become unemployable outside jail. Originally, once someone has "paid their dues" to society, they were allowed to continue on. But with background checks and everyone having a permanent record, that is no longer the case. We look around at the poor today, and think "why can't they just get a job?" Many of them have a glass ceiling over them.
Why care? Well consider being a conservative in the land now akin to the old USSR: Show me the man and I will show you the crime approach.
also not a convicted criminal and I agree with the author.
I would also like to see three strikes laws reformed. They were sold to us in California as one thing but, they are entirely another and extraordinarily punitive.
2nd amendment and voting rights should be restored after serving your time.
Stupid war on Drugs needs to end and so too the various laws of possession, particularly for pot.
BOHICA
” Crime’s not what it used to be, and the system is now making criminals out of normal citizens to perpetuate itself. “
Obama has 2 more years to criminalize all who aren’t on the left.
Because, you ARE a criminal. Given the huge number, and vague wording of State and Federal laws, it is likely you commit one or more felonies every day.
I’ve employed black and white excons. Regardless of which, excons tend to have real unresolved anger and restraint issues. As an employer I cannot afford an employee who snaps, threatens another employee or a customer, or does violence. My liability is too large.
The first thing to be reformed is families - dad, mom, marriage, commitment - the next is prisons. That they’re hell holes is a testament to the failure of the state. They shouldn’t allow the least bit of vulgarity, let alone violence, murder and rape.
I’d like to see a free market in prisons that would let prisoners self-select certain prisons and programs. They would be run by behaviorists with strict and serious consequences for internal violators. The goal to positively reinforce mature, restrained behavior. Part of the problem of these young men is a lack of maturity and self-restraint. Extrinsic controls just cannot provide enough corrective. There has been some success with prisoners and animal husbandry.
They choose to return to crime. At the same time minimum wage laws, permitting, licensing and zoning punish the most at-risk workers. If you could hire prisoners for a dollar a day in no time those that truly want to work would be gainfully employed at minimum wage or better.
Some of our excon workers were excellent. One threatened to kill me and he’d just gotten out for murder a few months earlier. He was fired and we took care of his threat privately. Nothing ever came of it, but how many employers would ever go back after that kind of wild eyed nut who really could and had carried out a murder threatened them?
He was strong as an ox and did demo work. He was fearless nearly to the point of recklessness, but not that fearless. Hence my still being alive today. His brother, also an excon, turned out to be a terrific worker and moved on to better things.
Thanks for the post. Part of prison reform would be sentencing. Prisons are schools for violent anti-social behavior, and I agree with your thoughts on reforming them. But a quick fix is to reduce the people actually sentenced to prisons, so they skip the violent training. We can have alternative sentencing like stiff financial penalties so that we can at least keep non violent criminals out of prisons. And the very violent and insane should stay in prison, and be segregated from others who will get out eventually. No need to mix people with nothing to lose with people who still have something to gain.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." --Ayn Rand
Exactly. A nonviolent person shouldn’t really even go to prison. Home confinement after working hours is more than sufficient.
People need to realize that a large part of the prison population, perhaps the majority, come from broken homes in which government action - incentives for fatherless households and failed government education systems - is to blame. While we need to have high standards, we need to also recognize and have mercy on those who err and truly want to change.
It’s a big picture approach to reform. End the incentive for teen motherhood by demanding adoption by economically responsive adults and an enormous part of the problem dissolves. The baby-daddy/baby-mommy culture has to be killed completely. Government is the biggest proponent of bad behavior and by that I include its supporters - the Left.
I don’t agree with non-violent criminals getting no jail time. If it were victimless crimes, that’s another thing. white collar crimes are devastating to victims, and the convicted don’t get enough jail as it is. what is the deterrent to stealing money from people if they get no jail time and get to keep their record clean to set up and scam 100 more people?
It’s best to read the fine print.
“Reform” will NEVER happen. Too much money to be made from municipalities all the way up the food chain. More bad cops slipping through the cracks, more prisons (lots are private), private “healthcare” for said prisons (and jails), overtime, etc..etc. It’s an industry now.
I know a guy who is getting wrecked right now financially through the “judicial” system all because he was teaching his teen to drive before he got a permit. We aren’t talking a “big city” or massive highways, we are talking far outside suburbia to the point there are farms all over the landscape. The LEO threw reckless endangerment, endangering a minor and a slew of summary charges against the guy and he has never had a run in with the law. The LEO pulled the “I detected the smell of marijuana” thing after pulling them over for not signaling and the guy flat out said “bullshit, I want tested RIGHT. NOW. The LEO backed down on that one. Next up? “I detected the smell of alcohol”. No sobriety tests, no arrests (and -surprise!- no dash cam during discovery). Just sent on his way after about an hour and charges showing up in the mail one week later.
That stop should have been a citation only, not a first degree misdemeanor charge.
This is happening all OVER the country. Everyone of you posting is just one stop by a dysfunctional LEO away from having your world turned upside down.
Because “reform” has come to mean “vandalize” or “destroy” in recent times. A bank robber wishes to “reform” the bank. A murderer wishes to “reform” the life of his/her intended victim. “Immigration reform” is only the latest example.
There is nothing I want this administration to “reform”. Everything it has as yet “reformed” has turned into utter crap.
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