Unnecessary and Sad

Tim Lynch on the recent murder of four Tacoma, Washington police officers and what it (may) reveal about our criminal justice and prison system.

I would, however, caution against a blanket condemnation of pardons, as well as any hasty move to simply abolish parole. The American criminal-justice system is thoroughly swamped. Right now there are more than 7 million people under criminal-justice “supervision.” About 2.5 million are behind bars, and about 4.5 million are on probation or parole. This system is greatly overburdened by non-violent drug offenders. Conditions vary by jurisdiction, but in general there is no prison space left. So it is unrealistic for us to say, “If a prisoner violates parole, send him back to jail immediately!”...

The best way to curb violent crime is to lock up violent criminals. Sounds like a no-brainer but our system is swamped with drug offenders. Problems fester while the pols try to deflect criticism away from themselves.