FROM CALIBRE PRESS

Jim Glennon’s recent commentary, “Putting Criminals Behind Bars Just Doesn’t Work.” Is That Viewpoint True at All? drew heavy feedback from law enforcement officers across the country. Here’s some of what we heard:

Det. Nik Havert with the Nappanee (IN) PD:

According to the preliminary data release for 2022 from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Dept. of Justice), “The U.S. prison population was 1,230,100 on December 31, 2022, a 2% increase from 2021 (1,205,100).” That number has only increased in the last year, and the number is now closer to 1.8 million people. The U.S. has about 20% of the world’s population of imprisoned people.

So, we ARE putting more people in prison…and yet we still have high crime rates in some areas, violent crimes still happen, and drug overdose deaths are still happening. What, then, is the solution? More imprisonments?

Discounting mental illness and addictions (which no one seems to want to address or, perhaps more accurately putting it, spend the tax dollars to address), why do people commit crimes? For want of money and/or sex. Most crimes boil down to one or both of those things, and no one wants to address them either. Sex is far more complicated than money, and for some reason still taboo to discuss in the U.S., so let’s go with poverty. If you want to eliminate a lot of crime, address poverty. The gap between rich and poor widens almost daily, and the middle class has been tricked into believing poor people are the enemy. Poor people, seeing no way out of their situation, often commit crimes out of desperation or flat-out need – and not just violent crimes.

I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve stopped on a traffic offense with a suspended license or were habitual traffic violators going to work because they have no other choice (i.e., no paid maternity or paternity leave and/or lack of child care options forcing the other parent to stay home and not drive them to work) but to drive, and now the driver is going to jail and losing another job and having to pay a bond and court fees they can’t afford and thus the cycle of poverty continues.

In 1990, a criminology professor said the following in my “Criminal Justice 101” college class: “If I’m a kid growing up in an inner city ghetto, and it’s just me, my mom, and two other kids in a one-bedroom apartment, and I can make four bucks an hour at Burger King or fifty bucks an hour dealing drugs, and I’m the only one putting food on the table, what am I going to do? I know what I’d be doing. I’d be dealing drugs, because that’s going to keep my family fed.” Yet, now in 2024, people lose their minds when they hear Burger King workers demanding a $15 / hour wage (which is BARELY a living wage in many parts of the country and often doesn’t include health care) and they also lose their minds when some of those same workers resort to theft or drug dealing because they’re told flipping burgers isn’t worth a living wage.

Do we need prisons? Unfortunately, yes. Do violent offenders and drug dealers need to be incarcerated? Yes. Not addressing the underlying issues that lead people to commit these crimes will only result in us having this same conversation in successive decades, however, and poor people will only become angrier and more desperate. You think it’s bad now? It will only get worse if growing economic disparity in this country isn’t addressed.

Sheriff Lenn Wood from Coweta County in Newnan, GA writes:

In our community we never backed off enforcing the laws of the County and State during COVID and will continue to enforce them. It makes us proud to hear people we arrest make the statement they didn’t know they were in our County. We believe the safety and security of our citizenry is the utmost direction we have as a Law Enforcement Agency. Fortunately, our Judicial partners are just as vigilant about prosecuting the same.

Corrections Sgt. Barbara Mattes with the Pima Co. Sheriff’s Dept. in Tucson, AZ writes:

I am a 20+ year veteran in corrections with a sheriff’s department. I truly enjoy my work and believe a jail has potential to be a benefit to any community it serves.

I have a few opinions in regard to criminal activity and incarceration:

1. More often than not a jail is the only place many people have access to services such as addiction treatment, mental health, education, and medical treatment.

2. I have not seen any programs that are effective in preventing criminal activity…the activity that greatly harms our communities and families.

3. Society in general has abdicated their responsibilities for the medical, mental health, and addiction problems to law enforcement by votes and actions.

4. Society still blames and complains when law enforcement does not handle those problems the way “they” would and continues to vote and conduct themselves in a manner that lays the sole responsibility for how these issues are handled at law enforcements’ feet. Before we stop putting people in jail, we have to have something in place to provide the services a jail provides (i.e., mental health support, access to medical treatments, education and addiction treatments.)

In conjunction with adequate access to medical, education, mental health treatment, addiction treatment, etc., we need to have programs in place that may actually prevent activities that facilitate them going to jail in the first place.

I firmly believe there must be consequences for actions taken. That being said, I do often wonder if we spent as much time addressing the problems that cause incarceration—things like addiction and mental illness–as we do on incarceration, might there be a reduction in criminal activity?

Lt. Chuck Weaver with the Santa Ana (NM) Police Department writes:

Speaking as a 40+ year LEO, you are spot on! Getting back to basics for the purpose of why the criminal justice system exists, citizens having an expectation of services which uplift their quality of life from their tax dollars. One service, of course, is a degree of protection from the criminal element in their daily lives. They expect law enforcement to respond and mitigate, prosecutors to aggressively present a case to the court, and judges to punish, effectively reform, or to remove the offender from society for a proper period of time. The citizenry exercises the right on the expectation of its governmental entities, not social elitists or self-ordained zealots who believe their mandate is to enlighten society for a greater good.

There is enough complexity in our society and issues that deserve debate and ultimate change in this world without overlapping basic safety needs and the criminal justice system into this equation. By having a free and safe society where these debates can take place, one must first create the environment free of the bad actors who would prey upon the community and citizens at large. Opportunistic criminals and their supporters have forfeited any right to call the shots which would otherwise bring our world into chaos and ultimate decay.

A former officer with the New York Department of Corrections writes:

As someone who worked in corrections for 26 years, during the crazy times of the mid 1980’s and 1990’s in New York, I saw where locking people up, AND KEEPING THEM LOCKED UP, did reduce crime. The current Attorney General of Washington, DC is recently quoted as saying, “We cannot incarcerate our way out of this problem.” Mind you, this is the same AG who REFUSED to prosecute 67% of crime in Washington, DC in 2022! Then they all wonder why there has been a huge spike in violent crime in the Nation’s Capital! There must be consequences to actions, otherwise there is no deterrent! No, sir, insanity is forcing the general public to live under the current conditions of letting criminals remain free to roam the streets and continue to commit crimes without any consequences, while thinking that criminal will change if we’re nice to him!

Longtime law enforcement and martial arts trainer Joseph J. Truncale writes:

Great article and so true. The far left seems to be working hard to destroy the very foundations of law and justice in our country. When people are afraid to walk the streets because the thugs have taken over, something is wrong. Putting criminals in jail has always worked until the far-left lunatics in our society took over our criminal justice and political institutions. If we do not wake up to reality, our country could end up like the Roman and Greek empires. Old history.

Master Patrolman Nate Jacobs (ret.) who served with the Ponca City (OK) Police Department writes:

A point on this matter I never hear. When Billy Bob Badass goes to prison, he will likely NOT come out reformed or a changed man despite all the programs available to him to improve himself. HOWEVER, while he is in there, his victims/ future victims are safe from him.

Deputy Chief Ken Spadefora (ret.) who served with the Anchorage Alaska Police Department writes:

Simple answer to “Does putting criminals in jail work?” Yes, it does by protecting the citizens and their property that we are sworn to protect. No question it works with violent or repeat offenders.

Does it always work in rehabilitating offenders? No, it doesn’t. Offenders are not all the same. Killers, rapists, muggers, violent criminals, serial thieves, need to be punished first. Afterwards a determination can be made as to the prospect of rehabilitation, which is very rare. By the time these offenders are caught, most are beyond repair. Some can feel empathy for them due to addictions, but they must hit bottom (incarceration) before there is any chance at going sober.

First time petty crimes, and I emphasize first time, might be turned around by fear of incarceration. Repeat petty offenders need incarceration as we are back to what should be our (society’s) first priority which is protecting innocent victims.

Progressive laws have forgotten what we in law enforcement know from day one in the academy; innocent victims’ safety and well-being comes first; criminal offenders are last. A major roadblock has always been money for jails and prisons. Often laws like “no bail” are sold as empathy for criminals, buy sometimes politicians hide behind this to cut funding. I’m not stating anything here that any good hardworking LEO doesn’t already know.

In my humble and professional opinion, we must have laws and policies that protect our citizens above all else. Good and bad humans will always exist regardless of how many progressives think we can reach Eutopia.

By the way I still encourage the right people to become police officers. When I hired on law enforcement was not very popular. Cops were still being ambushed. Cops were called pigs daily. Officer killed stats were hovering about 260 a year. The right individuals should not be deterred from stepping up.

Unit Supervisor Jeremy Patin with the Jefferson Co. Community Supervision and Corrections Dept. in Beaumont, Texas writes:

As always, I enjoyed your article. I have had the opportunity to attend some of your trainings in person and have found them all immensely useful. However, you neglected one very important piece of the CJ puzzle; Community Supervision/Corrections (adult probation).

According to Bureau of Justice stats, there were 3.7 million individuals on some form of supervision in their communities at the end of 2021. Opposed to roughly 1.8 million incarcerated. That is 3.7 million individuals serving a court-ordered sentence while still contributing to society by working, performing community service, attending classes/counseling etc. There is no way feasible that even if suddenly the US got tough on crime again, as you alluded to be the case in the 90’s, we would even be able to incarcerate this many individuals.

In my home state of Texas, there were over 8k vacancies in the state prison system at the start of this year. Even if we wanted to, we could not watch, feed, or provide medical care to that many people given current staffing.

I’ve been in the profession for 25 years now, serving in almost every capacity in the field, save for practicing law and have seen the pendulum swing both ways from “lock em all up” to the more “progressive” system in place now. Jails and prisons exist for a reason for certain people, but it is foolish to think we can solve our societal woes by putting more people in them.

I currently work in a mid-size county here in Texas with roughly 200K citizens and on any given day, we have roughly 3500 on the ground being supervised by my officers. I can attest that we are putting in the work to keep our community safe. We use evidence-based practices along with cognitive programming and accountability to help criminals effect change in their lives and hopefully break the cycle of recidivism.

As you stated, criminal justice is nuanced and we must remember that we work with flesh-and-blood people and don’t make widgets. Just some food for thought.

Once again, thanks for the work you do and to all my brothers and sisters out there in the field, stay the course and keep on keeping on.

Patrolman Roger Hinckley with the Swarthmore Borough (PA) Police Department writes:

Hey Jim, great article. I seem to remember, not that long ago, when prosecutors went all out against the drug companies, citing abuse, over prescribing by doctors, deaths etc. Everybody wanted a share of the settlement. But when it comes to the illegal drugs coming into this country, it’s kind of tone deaf. With all the deaths young people are experiencing where is the outrage? You’re a smart guy. Help me out…

Sr. Patrolman Christopher E. Whitney (ret.) writes:

“he empathized…” Translation: I really don’t care. “I am broken-hearted for your loss.” Translation: Better you than me. How can you tell when an attorney is lying? When his lips move.

I believe that serious jail time can be effective as long as it is actually carried out and serious consequences for the crime are consistently enforced so that other criminals know they are going to suffer for their illegal behaviors the same amount that they caused their victims and the victim’s family. All too often these DA’s like to target the victims trying to make them look like they are at fault, and then turn around and state sympathy for the poor criminals.

Vote for political people that really care and will punish the criminal and not the law-abiding citizen, especially those trying to defend themselves and their family against criminals. Then maybe we’ll have punitive laws that will target the real offenders.

Retired DEA Special Agent Ed Wezain writes:

Criminals are like pilots who are aces. A small number of pilots account for a disproportionate number of enemy aircraft shot down. The criminal world is no different. There are some people who are “aces” of crime and deserve to spend all the time behind bars the government can give them.

V. Williams who retired from the SC Law Enforcement Division in Columbia, SC writes:

Has anyone bothered to see if District Attorney George Gascón has an ties to the gang members he is so gentle with? Where are the sources for “explosion of violent crime not seen since the 1990s” coming from? People’s opinions are interesting but other than the stat on overdoses – where are the violent crime stats? The “war on drugs” coined by whomever clearly did not work if we are now seeing this level of overdoses across the United States. Usually enjoy reading these articles because they are normally fact-based. This seems fear based and the DA of LA sounds like he is clueless.

Deputy Chief J.T. Moore with the Jackson (AL) Police Department writes:

As I read this article, I reflected on our city here in Jackson, Alabama. Our crime rate has dropped year after year due to our Patrol Officers and Detective division. I can’t neglect our District Attorney’s Office. Our main issue is mental health. We police our community and our DA backs us up. Our leadership team supports the Patrol and Investigation Teams.

I see the difference in our agency and the agencies which are similar in size and have different outcomes. Community support is a major factor in the outcome of the Police Departments. I do believe the money that is wasted away on some nonsense programs could/should be redirected to the field of mental health. The people in charge cannot be so blind that they cannot see the big picture. You cannot change my mind that some want this type of situation as job security and political power. I learned at a young age that actions have consequences. Children these days have no consequences. “My child” syndrome has got to stop. Yes, your child did wrong and there are consequences. I could go on and on…Great read.