Getting Tougher with Offenders
The underlying problem is that American society is too lenient with violent criminals, thereby encouraging lawlessness. Serious crimes deserve serious punishment, no matter who commits them. Whether criminals are youths or adults and whether the crime is a first offense or a subsequent offense it must be punished unequivocally. The most promising solution is to get tougher with all criminals, to step up enforcement efforts, impose longer jail and prison sentences, and build more prisons.
What Should be Done?
Enact mandatory sentences. Make sure that a firm connection exists between the seriousness of the crime and the severity of the sentence, even if that means sending more criminals to prison. Step up law enforcement efforts so a higher percentage of offenders are caught and convicted. Don't let criminals off easy, even on their first offense. Make sure violent criminals get what they deserve, and make sure the rights and needs of victims of crimes are respected. Relax the due process rules so that a higher percentage of apprehended criminals are convicted and sentenced.
Arguments For This Approach
Most violent crimes do not result in arrest, and even when suspects are arrested they often go free. That's a fatal flaw, since would-be criminals see that they can get away with serious crime. The courts don't deal harshly enough with criminals, and as a result justice suffers. Society has a right to protect itself against violent predators, and an obligation to imprison individuals who resort to criminal violence.
Arguments Against This Approach
Simply locking up more people for longer periods of time does little to provide a safer society. Prisoners leave more dangerous than they were when they entered. In any case, we can't go on indefinitely locking up more and more people. Most people who commit serious crimes aren't calculators who would be deterred by the prospect of swifter, more certain, and more severe punishment. This approach does nothing to address the long-term causes of our crime problem. The real effects of get tough measures such as mandatory sentencing are strikingly at odds with their intentions. Relaxing the due process rules will deprive people of their civil rights.
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