So, whatdya think about the slam situation?
Hello Crime Fighters:
I've been harping for lots of years on these very pages about prison reform. We put TOO many people behind bars for TOO long. Of course, nobody cares much about what an excon has to say on the matter. People expect it.
Most elected officials, afraid of being tarred as soft on crime, ignore these problems. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, is now courageously stepping into the void, calling for a national commission to re-assess criminal justice policy.
This country has the world's highest incarceration rate. Although we have less than 5 percent of the world's population, we have almost one-quarter of the world's prisoners. And for the first time in history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars.
Many convicts are serving long mandatory sentences for nonviolent crimes, including minor drug offenses. Mandatory sentences are just plain stupid on their face. They take power OUT of the judge's hands, who has a job for LIFE, and puts it directly INTO the prosecutor's hands, who have political ambitions….
The system is also extraordinarily expensive. Billions of dollars now being spent on prisons each year could be used in far more socially productive ways.
The time could be right. The economic downturn should make both federal and state lawmakers receptive to the idea of reforming a prison system that is as wasteful as it is inhumane.
Or, are you right wingers happy with the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" philosophy of old?
excon