Thread: Trump sees that being tough on crime requires being smart on crime

Trump sees that being tough on crime requires being smart on crime

by Washington Examiner
October 15, 2018 12:00 AM

Now is the time for criminal justice reform, and President Trump is the man to do it.

Momentum is building within the conservative movement for prison reform, momentum punctuated by the Oval Office visit Thursday of rapper Kanye West. A criminal justice reform bill has passed the Republican House, and the Republican Senate is taking it seriously. That’s great. Conservatives should embrace reforms that are good for the country without being soft on crime.

The American prison system is overburdened, costly, and ineffective, with incarceration based on outdated theories on crime and punishment. Trump is right to push for reform that would make communities safer, help rehabilitate those already incarcerated, and work toward more effective policies.

About 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That’s about 860 people per every 100,000 — more than numbers reported for any other country in the world.

The prison population has exploded since 1980 following a wave of tough-on-crime legislation that imposed strict mandatory minimums even for nonviolent offenses which caused the prison population to soar.

Today, it is clear that this approach did not serve the interests of the country.

Almost everyone in prison today will be released one day, and way too many of them will be ill-prepared to re-enter society.

Lacking training, connections, and job prospects, and habituated by prison culture toward antisocial behavior, many prisoners will end up back behind bars.

More prisoners plus high recidivism means more taxpayer money and persistent crime. In some states, such as California, incarceration can cost $50,000 per prisoner per year. That’s more than a year at Stanford.

There are better ways to spend that money that will also get better results, including a stronger civil society and a safer country.

First, we could try to make the correctional system a bit more correctional. Those currently incarcerated should have access to training, classes, faith-based support, and other programs including drug treatment and help for those suffering from mental illness. These programs, many of which are promoted by the FIRST STEP Act that has already passed the House, would help prevent recidivism, help break prison culture that can lead to future criminality, and allow prisoners to successfully re-enter society. It also includes humanitarian reforms, such as banning the shackling of pregnant women during childbirth.

Sentencing reform, such as the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, cosponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would mean that fewer people ended up in prison in the first place. As Grassley explains, this would allow law enforcement resources to focus on violent crimes and career criminals rather than putting nonviolent, low-level offenders behind bars. These reforms, including lifting the three-strike mandatory life provision for drug offenses, increases judicial discretion for nonviolent crimes, limits some mandatory minimums, and retroactively applies the Fair Sentencing Act in addition to recidivism reduction programs.

These reforms would prevent crime, save taxpayers money, and help individuals and communities. They build on proposals already successfully implemented at the state level where they have helped reduce crime, keep communities safe, and allowed former inmates to return as productive members of society, all while saving taxpayer dollars.

Republicans are right to support these solutions, and Trump is the right man to lead these conservative reforms.

With a tough-on-crime agenda and a record of taking criminal activity seriously, Trump has the public and congressional support to make these reforms happen.

Unfortunately, Jeff Sessions and some other Republicans believe that “tough on crime” doesn't allow for reform. They fail to see the merits of the latest conservative push to reform the criminal justice system.

Trump, more than any recent president, has talked about battling crime. Today, he sees prison reform as part of that approach. Let's hope Congress gets a bill to his desk so that he can redefine what it means to be "tough on crime."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...smart-on-crime

I totally support this criminal justice reform and hope Republicans can get it through and to the President's desk.

$50 GRAND per year, per prisoner...then add thousands more to educate and train them??? NO

How about PREVENT them from going to prison in the first place!

Stop all immigration and work visa's.

Many of these people have no father, no job and no hope. The mothers continue to breed and live off welfare and food stamps in poverty. Vicious cycle and the kids end up criminals.

Make them clean up their own neighborhoods, paint, clean up garbage and get a job!

How about the Church and local leaders start a clean up initiative where they HAVE to participate!

Work for welfare!

The Church gets their tax-exempt status IN EXCHANGE for opening after school programs for these children!

Programs to teach them manners, communication, job skills, responsibility, household finances and how much a baby costs...so WAIT to have one to get out of poverty.


So $50 grand per prisoner...x 10 prisoners = $500,00 better spent keeping them OUT of prison and invest in the community!

All foreigners go to Federal Tent City on Federal Land with a panel of Federal Judges and cut the costs! Serve time and deport them.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM MUST INCLUDE...

ALL foreigners, visa overstays, work visa's, green cards, naturalized, TPS, refugees, illegal aliens and asylum liars who have committed crimes or fraudulently came here...ALL who are subject to our Federal Visa and Immigration Laws are transported to Federal Tent City on Federal Land with a panel of Federal Judges for sentencing and/or serve time upon which they are then deported and stripped of any opportunity to ever come back!

Get them OUT of our local and state jurisdiction, out of our local courts and out of our local jails and prisons.