CNN: Criminal justice reformers went back in time to coddle criminals who kill in the future.
In their effort to pivot from bland and irrelevant to Fox News, CNN has hired former NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller to serve as their legal expert.
Miller lied about the NYPD’s Muslim spying program so egregiously under oath that a lawmaker suggested trying him for perjury. Naturally, CNN snapped him right up after that. Even less surprisingly, he’s now lying about criminal justice reform.
Just a few days after the body of Memphis school teacher Eliza Fletcher was recovered by police—and a suspect was arrested in her death—a Memphis man went on a shooting spree, killing four and wounding others.
Asked about the violence in Memphis, Miller instantly cited reform. “Mayors, others all over the country have embraced criminal justice reform,” he said authoritatively.
“It's not big news criminals are recidivists,” Miller added. “We have to find the balance between reform and effective punishment.”
Sure, but neither of the two horrible crimes have anything to do with criminal justice reform.
The suspect in the Fletcher killing had served 20 years for kidnapping for a crime he committed when he was 16. And until the recent election of reform prosecutor Steve Mulroy, Memphis has had the most draconian prosecutors anywhere in the nation.
As I wrote at the time, the Fletcher case actually shows why tough on crime prosecutions make us less safe down the line. You can’t (and shouldn’t!) put a 16 year old in prison for life. They will get out—probably long after the prosecutor who put them away is in office or even alive. And the 16 year old who grew up and middle aged in prison—instead of high school, in the workforce or starting a family—has virtually no opportunities to build a quality life. They’re frozen out of jobs, don’t understand that world, don’t have family and community ties. Prison is traumatic. While not all traumatized men get violent, there’s a link between male trauma and violence, particularly against women.
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