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Criminal Justice Reform

6 min read

Part of Crime, police and punishment.

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Every episode (14)

Who argued it

Michael Tanner ×2 · Joe Lancaster · Clark Neily · Scott Shackford · Lenore Skenazy · Robert Alt · Austin Petersen · Anthony L. Fisher · Brian Walsh · Alice Goffman · Maggie McNeill · Veronique de Rugy

Federalism · Drug Policy · Occupational Licensing · Libertarianism · Education · Minimum Wage · Judicial Activism · Supreme Court

Background

Criminal justice reform is treated across these episodes as an area that crosses ordinary party lines and that has produced more action in the states than in Washington. Bob Zadek frames the subject by noting that government is the only organization in the country that can lawfully use force, deprive people of liberty and take their property, which is why he considers reform important and comparatively unnoticed Here Comes the Storm (2019). The episodes name two senators, Rand Paul and Cory Booker, as the pair who moved forward together on the issue, and they identify the First Step Act as a first step signed while Donald Trump was president Here Comes the Storm (2019).

The drug war and mandatory minimums

Austin Petersen, campaigning for a Senate seat, calls the federal war on drugs a prohibitionist bloody war on our own people that is expensive and an absolute waste of life and time Federalism and the Flat Tax: The Austin Petersen Plan (2017). He argues drugs should be treated as a medical problem rather than a criminal one, and that jailing people for self-harm helps no one, since drugs cannot even be kept out of prisons. He advocates a total end to the federal war on drugs.

Petersen also points to state-level punitiveness, saying legislatures have enforced mandatory minimum jail sentences even for non-violent crimes, and that a person can be gunned down in the street for being a threat because he sold a pound of marijuana, while in Colorado or Washington the same conduct could make someone a millionaire Federalism and the Flat Tax: The Austin Petersen Plan (2017). He says the tension in inner cities reflects a perception, which he shares, that people are victims of a harsh criminal justice system, and that reform would give urban communities more trust in government. Asked about the Michael Brown incident, he says whether Brown was innocent or guilty is irrelevant because the aftermath was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Bob Zadek closes the segment by saying Petersen would help Senator Paul and Senator Booker in that regard.

A caller, Eben, mentions a book by a former judge from conservative Orange County titled Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, and cites Sir Richard Branson and the Global Commission on Drug Policy in Switzerland, saying Portugal has become a fantastic example Federalism and the Flat Tax: The Austin Petersen Plan (2017). Bob Zadek identifies the judge as the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 2012 and a past guest.

Federalism and state experimentation

Robert Alt, chief executive officer of the Buckeye Institute since 2012, tells Bob Zadek that he could not get meaningful reforms done in Washington but could in the states Robert Alt of the Buckeye Institute: Power to the States (2017). Zadek lists marijuana reform, rejection of Medicaid by some states, criminal justice reform and right-to-work laws as evidence that all the interesting initiatives are at the state level, and says the Buckeye Institute has been a national leader in criminal justice reform. He notes that criminal justice reform transcends typical party positions, citing the allegiance of Rand Paul and Cory Booker, and that their federal effort did not get very far because Washington paid attention to terrorist activities and cannot focus on more than one issue at a time.

The episode’s overview lists mens rea and bail reform among the criminal justice issues discussed, alongside union democracy and regular recertification elections for public sector unions Robert Alt of the Buckeye Institute: Power to the States (2017). Zadek’s introduction notes that the first Federalist Paper was published in 1788 and describes the Federalist Papers as articles of persuasion rather than legislative history.

Registries, recidivism and medicalization

Lenore Skenazy, in a conversation about sex offender registries, says a New Jersey study of whether the registry prevents crime found no difference before or after the registry A Sunday Morning Chat with The World’s Worst Mom (2018). She says the recidivism rate for people on the registry is about 5%, the lowest of any criminals except murderers, and that registries do not exist for murderers, drug offenders or others who have served their time. Bob Zadek calls the registries an abuse of statutes that deprive almost a million individuals of rights everyone else takes for granted, and asks where the proportionality is.

Theodore Dalrymple, a doctor who worked for a long time in a prison in Britain, tells Zadek that there is a therapeutic attitude toward criminality which he disagrees with, and that criminals often half-adopt the view that they are ill and not agents Theodore Dalrymple on Negligence and Unaccountability (2019). He gives the example of people saying they are addicted to stealing cars because they do it repeatedly and find it exciting, using a medical term for what they do. Zadek introduces the discussion by paraphrasing the observation that criminals are treated as ill and the ill are treated as criminals, connecting it to drug legalization and the high incarceration rate in the United States.

Across episodes

Criminal justice reform is touched on in the Petersen episode, the Alt episode, the Skenazy episode, the McGinnis episode and the Dalrymple episode; the episodes show recurring names and themes but no development from earlier to later treatment.

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