Former California politician Chuck DeVore–now Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation–spoke to the San Diego Union-Tribune about a crime equivalent of the so-called “peace dividend.” The article describes Californians’ attitudes toward recent years’ drop in crime and how solutions are coming from unlikely places.
Krisberg says many Republicans — typically leaders of the law-and-order coalition — now often back changes that help reduce costs and incarceration rates, even as some Democrats oppose them because of their closeness to the prison guards and police unions.
GOP-dominated Texas has been on the forefront of this trend. By shifting resources to probation, parole and rehabilitation, Texas officials have been slashing incarceration costs while the crime rate there continues to drop, explains Chuck DeVore, vice president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a former Republican Assemblyman from Irvine.
“The main dividend is in safer streets, which itself helps the economy and in Texas we cut taxes two years ago while we were closing three prisons and we are looking to cut taxes again while we’re continuing to shut down prisons,” he said. “Now … in California, maybe you’re not cutting taxes, but I suppose you’ll have more money for other things there.”