Charlie Harper: Crime another area for reform
One of the legacies of Governor Nathan Deal will be his continued efforts toward criminal justice reform. Over a period of years, the governor and a near super-majority Republican legislature managed to reclassify many low level non-violent felonies as misdemeanors, revamp the juvenile justice process, and address the need for those convicted to be able to re-enter the workforce once they have served their time. The overriding theme is that we would rather have Georgians working and paying taxes than overpaying their dues to society.
Nationally, the criminal justice reform effort has created a bipartisan effort in Congress toward sentencing reform. At the heart of the issue is ending the widespread practice of establishing mandatory minimum sentences for certain federal crimes, many of which are non-violent.
Reluctance to move many of these issues forward has largely been seen as politicians not wanting to appear "soft on crime." Given that we're in another presidential election cycle, those needing an example of what could go wrong should remember (or Google) the name Willie Horton.
Horton was serving a life sentence without parole in Massachusetts, yet was allowed to participate in a weekend furlough program -- one that he didn't return from. He later committed a violent rape and other crimes in Maryland. The "soft on crime" image was affixed to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, one that he wasn't able to shake during his ill-fated run for president.
Criminal justice reform proposals at both the state level and national level have been clear to differentiate between violent and non-violent offenders. Most have also been focused on reducing the number of those incarcerated and the costs associated on those incarcerations. The continued costs post-incarceration of unemployment or underemployment have received proper consideration in the discussions.
The results are paying dividends. And yet, crime is again becoming a political issue.
Savannah's ongoing mayor's race has the city's crime rate as a central issue. And in Georgia's capital city, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed held a public town hall last week to assure the city's Midtown area residents that the issues were being addressed.
Citizens brought anecdotes of robberies, car thefts and assaults in their area, often in broad daylight. The mayor brought crime statistics showing most violent crimes were down, and that police employment is up. He also brought some numbers that pointed to an area that needs its own reform: The revolving door of Fulton County's courthouse and jail.
Mayor Reed referenced the need for "repeat offender reform" during his town hall, a suggestion that was tweeted by his spokesperson Ann Torres. They noted that 461 individuals were responsible for 14,412 arrests. According to a follow-up report by the AJC's Katie Leslie, only 16 of these people saw significant jail time. Doing some quick math, that's an average of more than 31 arrests for each of these individuals. That's also only 3.4% of the worst repeat offenders receiving meaningful jail time.
Reed made an admission that was stunning in its direct bluntness from a politician who has spent much of his administration speaking publicly of increasing the size of his police force to combat crime: If a criminal is arrested for a crime that doesn't involve murder, "it's highly unlikely they will see one day in jail."
Atlanta, as a city, does not control the Superior Court of Fulton County that conducts criminal trials. The Fulton County Jail, meanwhile, has just escaped 10 years of federal oversight due to overcrowded conditions -- a situation often blamed on the necessity to churn suspects and many of those convicted back on the street as soon as possible.
The key to successful criminal justice reforms thus far has been the public sense that real justice, perhaps best described as "proportional balance," was resorted to the system. And thus far, the reforms have mostly been aimed at where the politics of being "tough on crime" may have overrun that balance.
The situation in Atlanta and Fulton County demonstrates that a lack of proportional balance may exist within other parts of our criminal justice system. One that has allowed too many to prove that there is little reason to fear they will ever be punished for crimes they commit.
We must continue to reform our criminal justice system where it is prudent. As part of the process, we should also ensure that those who are abdicating their basic responsibilities to hold criminals accountable receive the proper amount of scrutiny and commensurate reform to hold them accountable for their sworn roles within our justice system.
Charlie Harper, author and editor of the Peach Pundit blog, writes on Georgia politics and government; www.peachpundit.com.
This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Charlie Harper: Crime another area for reform ."