Op-Ed: Why we should defund prisons, not police (via latimesopinion)
We might reasonably expect most Gen Xers, now in their 40s and 50s, to have been released years ago after completing prison sentences received in their 20s. Instead, they fell victim to another
aspect of the crime-punishment wave: an emphasis during sentencing on prior criminal histories. The bluntest such tools were in many states, including California, that mandated incarceration and led to lengthy sentences for even minor infractions.Even more destructive are sentencing guidelines based on a defendant’s prior convictions — which sometimes carry more weight than the severity of the present crime. Releasing older offenders, or at least not incarcerating them solely on the basis of their prior criminal history, could unlock this trapped generation without harming public safety.
Regardless, new lows in incarceration rates present a chance to shift resources away from costly correctional facilities and toward education, job training, transportation and other community services. In other words, savings on prisons, juvenile detention and jails could pay for the aims of the many “defund the police” campaigns — and in a way that has more political support and no trade-off on public safety.
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