Contrary to the popular narrative, Rafael A. Mangual argues, most American prisoners belong behind bars:
Contrary to the claims in Michelle Alexander’s much-discussed 2010 bestseller The New Jim Crow, drug prohibition is not driving incarceration rates. Yes, about half of federal prisoners are in on drug charges; but federal inmates constitute only 12 percent of all American prisoners—the vast majority are in state facilities. Those incarcerated primarily for drug offenses constitute less than 15 percent of state prisoners. Four times as many state inmates are behind bars for one of five very serious crimes: murder (14.2 percent), rape or sexual assault (12.8 percent), robbery (13.1 percent), aggravated or simple assault (10.5 percent), and burglary (9.4 percent). The terms served for state prisoners incarcerated primarily on drug charges typically aren’t that long, either. One in five state drug offenders serves less than six months in prison, and nearly half (45 percent) of drug offenders serve less than one year.
That a prisoner is categorized as a drug offender, moreover, does not mean that he is nonviolent or otherwise law-abiding. Most criminal cases are disposed of through plea bargains, and, given that charges often get downgraded or dropped as part of plea negotiations, an inmate’s conviction record will usually understate the crimes he committed. The claim that drug offenders are nonviolent and pose zero threat to the public if they’re put back on the street is also undermined by a striking fact: more than three-quarters of released drug offenders are rearrested for a nondrug crime. It’s worth noting that Baltimore police identified 118 homicide suspects in 2017, and 70 percent had been previously arrested on drug charges.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.
Crime was drastically reduced in the 1990′s after the “three strikes” laws incarcerated one in three black men.
The average shooting victim (AKA gang member) has 10 prior arrests. The average shooter (AKA gang enforcer) has 15 prior arrests.
Most felons are incarcerated after making a plea bargain to a (much) lesser crime. Ignore the Leftists who cry about “non-violent” felons in prison.
Anti-gun laws are almost never used against gang members with a history of violence.
The most “justice-involved” shoplifters in NYC get re-arrested and almost immediately re-released every other week, and not arrested for every time they are caught (why should a policeman bother trying?), and not caught for every time they shoplift, so plausibly they are doing it every single day. This isn’t even “soft on crime” anymore; it’s indifferent to crime at best.
I am a cynic. In my not so humble opinion very few innocents are unjustly executed for murder. The police got the right man for the wrong crime, that’s all.