Bernie Sanders: We should be investing in education and jobs, not more jails....

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Well, if even progressives want to give every shithead criminal 20 years for pretty much anything

You're going to need more jails. This is a nice sentiment, but to operationalize it, we have to start seeing 5 years or less as a pretty good punishment for MOST offenses. We have to start thinking about alternative sentences and restorative justice. There's no getting around that. Right now, we're at "20 years!" "30 years!" "Life without parole!!!" for a remarkable number of offenders, even on a putatively liberal board. Look at pretty much any thread here that discusses crime. You can't untangle "victims rights" discourse from "private prison" policy and "more jails policy." They are all of a piece.

But I know what I am. I am a bleeding heart liberal and in the minority. I don't think an 18 year old poor kid armed robber should get 20 years in state prison. That's crazy to me. But that's the general drift of the matter, even on a liberal board. Hell, half the people who support Sanders will froth at a crime story and demand the maximum punishment imaginable.

People want to believe it's just "non-violent drug offenders" being railroaded, etc.. These people are fucking stupid and wrong. You have to give up punishment fetish for a wide range of offenders (including violent offenders) if you want to effect prison reform. But that starts first in your head and heart, not "out there."