Category: Politics

Ballot Measure Lets Parolees Vote

by · Jul 8, 2020 2:52 pm

In the last week of June the California Legislature passed a Constitutional Amendment that, if adopted by the voters this November, would give criminals on parole the right to vote in state and federal elections.  Evan Symon of the California Globe reports that ACA 8 passed 28-9 in the Democrat-controlled state senate and is now on its way to the November 3rd ballot.  Spearheading passage of the bill was Northern California Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, who noted that because a disproportionate number of African Americans are on parole the bar against parolees voting unfairly excludes them.

Continue reading . . .

They’re Telling Us What They Have in Mind. Best We Listen.

by · Jul 7, 2020 12:49 pm

One among many reasons I regularly read Doug Berman’s excellent blog, Sentencing Law and Policy, is the breadth of its coverage.  Today it features an article of great value because of its honesty.  It tells us, without a whole lot of varnish, what our opponents on criminal justice policy have in mind for the country.

We ignore it at our peril.  The people behind these suggestions are going to be eager candidates for politically-appointed sub-Cabinet positions in a Democratic administration, at the Justice Department and elsewhere.  If you want to know what the Biden DOJ is actually going to be pushing  —  as opposed to the relative pablum we’ll be hearing about in the campaign (if the former Vice President chooses to mount one)  —  here it is.

Continue reading . . .

Democrats Vote Against Tim Scott’s Police Reform Bill

by · Jul 2, 2020 3:34 pm

Part 3 in a three-part series.

Shortly after president Trump signed a new executive order aimed at initiating police reform at the federal level, both parties in the House and Senate drafted their reform bills, proposing new laws and amendments.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina led the Senate Republican Bill, which was quickly and harshly shut down by Senate  Democrats. The vote against the legislation is tragedy, as it eliminates any possibility of passing police reform this year. Continue reading . . .

For President, 2040

by · Jun 28, 2020 6:28 pm

What do we need in a President?  Maybe someone who thinks for himself, has the courage to stand against the winds of a debased culture, and understands, even if just intuitively, that the United States, though in need of a continuous struggle for improvement, has been a force for good in the world like no country that has existed before.

I don’t know this person’s political party.  But I just found my candidate.

Continue reading . . .

Strong Majority of Americans Oppose Defunding the Police

by · Jun 13, 2020 7:35 pm

An ABC/Ipsos poll finds that 64% of Americans oppose defuding the police, while 34% approve it.  The story is here.  Interestingly, it also notes:

…Democrats stand as the lone faction among the political tribes that approve by a majority of defunding the police (55%) and redirecting it to mental health, housing and education programs (59%).  But Democrats are more divided in their support than Republicans and Independents are in their opposition, with 43% and 41% of Democrats opposing both defunding the police, and using the money for other purposes, respectively.

If I were Donald Trump’s campaign manager  —  which I surely am not  — this would give me a clue about what issues to stress.

Policing for Me but Not for Thee

by · Jun 9, 2020 2:16 pm

Remembering my father’s admonition to me to “thank God for your enemies,” I bring you this beauty from liberal and forward-looking Los Angeles, where our opponents campaigning to “defund the police” are in full voice:

LOS ANGELES – While LA City Council President Nury Martinez was filing a motion last week seeking to cut $150 million from the LAPD budget, she had an LAPD unit standing watch outside her home providing her family with a private security detail since April. Continue reading . . .

L.A. Mayor Wants Less Police

by · Jun 5, 2020 10:02 am

After more than a week of rioting, looting, vandalism and violence, the Mayor of Los Angeles announced yesterday that he intends to defund the city’s police department.  Apparently taking a cue from “Black Lives Matter” leaders who have said publicly that police should be abolished, Eric Garcetti suggested cutting LAPD funding by $100 to $150 million in order to “end racism in our city.”   Hans Bader in Liberty Unyielding notes that Hillary Clinton’s former national press secretary, Brian Fallon has also called for cutting police budgets across the country.   Bader then explains why such calls make zero sense.  “Cutting police funding will leave the police without the manpower needed to investigate and arrest many criminals. When that happens, it is disproportionately minorities themselves who will suffer.”

Coronavirus Opportunism

by · Apr 22, 2020 7:01 am

Jason Riley has this column in the WSJ denouncing “coronavirus opportunism on both sides of the aisle.”

Mr. Trump will catch grief for using the coronavirus scare to push a mostly unrelated immigration agenda, but his political opponents are playing similar games. Springing criminals from jails and prisons to protect them from catching the virus is one of many examples, and potentially the most dangerous one. Since when did the well-being of convicts become more important than the safety of society? Continue reading . . .

Policy-Based Evidence-Making

by · Apr 8, 2020 11:52 am

Steven Hayward at Powerline Blog has this post on appeals to expertise in policy arguments. The specific examples he discusses are off-topic for this blog, but the general point is an issue that comes up often in criminal justice debates. The post includes a particularly nice turn of phrase that I expect to quote often.

Whenever a progressive says we should “follow the evidence” because we must have “evidence-based policy-making,” you should reach for your wallet (for starters). Because today we all too often have the opposite: policy-based evidence-making.

In criminal justice, you don’t need to reach for your wallet. You need to run for your life or reach for your gun. Continue reading . . .