Last week, Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Right On Crime appeared on National Public Radio to discuss whether “Tough On Crime” remains a potent talking point in American politics. Levin observed:
“[E]very major religious faith believes in redemption and the opportunity for people to turn their lives around and not every offender is amenable to rehabilitation, but many are. And so we have a number of both economic and social conservatives involved with Right on Crime who come at it from various different conservative perspectives. And also, frankly, the evidence. I mean there’s been a mountain of research over the last few decades that has shown that different alternatives to prison work, whether it’s problem-solving courts, electronic monitoring, treatment diversions for the mentally ill, we’ve had huge advances in risk assessment instruments that can better match offenders with the right programs.”
Click here to listen to the full interview and to read a transcript.