(This is one of a weekly series of posts entitled “A Centrist’s Platform”. The complete collection of Centrist’s Platform posts is available on a single page, or via a special RSS feed.)
When I outlined the topics I wanted to cover in my “Centrist’s Platform” series of articles, “crime” was one of the topics on the list.
Unfortunately, when it came time to sit down and write this week’s post…I’ve been left wondering exactly what I was going to say…if I even had more than just a topic picked out. That’s not a good thing, because there are so many sub-topics that could be touched upon….none of which seem to burn brightly in the sky of current events.
Consider the following:
- Earlier this year, headlines were blazing with the statistic that prison population had crept above 1% of the total population of the country — a higher rate than is seen in most other countries. Is this a problem, or is it a statement about our culture? How much of it is a testament to a lack of mental health and social services in certain communities, I wonder.
- The death penalty is usually a topic that can provoke heated debate. Personally, I’m extremely uncomfortable with it. I think it’s entirely appropriate for perpetrators of certain heinous crimes to be completely excluded from the benefits from and support of society, which is something that can only really be achieved with banishment or execution. I’d prefer banishment, but that isn’t practical in today’s world.
Also, certain apparent inequities in the awarding of the death sentence, leave me questioning whether justice is being applied equally to all. Plus, if my tax dollars are going to be used to permanently remove someone from society, I want to be d*mn sure that the person really is guilty.
- Requiring judges to adhere to certain minimum sentencing requirements is something else I’m extremely uncomfortable with. I can appreciate the need to foster some consistency, but real life is far more complex, filled with shades of grey, than any black-and-white legal text can attempt to prescribe for. I’d prefer that judges have the authority to take into special circumstances, or even sometimes prescribe some form of creative, alternative sentence when the situation warrants.
- “Three strikes” laws and restrictions placed on where sexual offenders may live after they’ve served their sentence have a definite appeal to most Americans. However, they always leave me wondering — if a person has paid his/her debt to society, shouldn’t they be treated the same as any other person? Or, if a released convict is deemed “too risky” and therefore must have restrictions placed upon him/her after release — why the heck are they being released to begin with?
And the list could go on.
However, really, all that I want from a politician when it comes to crime is a sense of realism and fairness, rather than an inclination to pay lip service to the subject for political gain, without really thinking their stances through.