Obama's Bad Criminal Justic

Obama's bad criminal justice ideas. - By Radley Balko - Slate Magazine http://www.slate.com/id/2201632

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Campaign 2008 News & Politics JURISPRUDENCE: THE LAW, LAWYERS, AND THE Arts & Life COURT. Business & Tech Health & Science Style & Shopping Bad Cop Travel & Food WHY OBAMA IS GETTING CRIMINAL JUSTICE Sports POLICY WRONG. Slate on NPR By Radley Balko Video Posted Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, at 3:57 PM ET Disable Flyout When Sen. Barack Obama expressed concern early in the primary season that there are PRI NT more young black men in prison DI SCUSS than in college, he raised hope that E- MAI L he might be the first major-party RECOMMEND candidate in a generation to adopt NEWSLETTERS a more nuanced criminal policy PODCAST S than the typical "longer sentences, A rally against 1999's RSS more prisons, more cops." As it massive drug bust in Tulia, turns out, Obama was wrong on Texas the numbers. But the sentiment Sponsored Links was right—one in nine black men Artery Clearing between the ages of 20 and 34 is currently behind bars . Secret Hugh Downs reports on Obama has also heartened advocates for criminal justice breakthrough from reform by expressing reservations about mandatory minimum Nobel Prize Winning Doctor sentences , at least for nonviolent offenders. He said he would Healthsecrets.com end federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they're legal. And he has expressed some welcome "Prepare To Be Shocked" dismay about America's incarceration rate, which is the highest Amazing Chinese in the world. Weight Loss Secret. As Seen On CNN, NBC, But in the last month, Obama's line on criminal justice has been CBS & Fox News. www.Wu-YiSource.com a lot less encouraging. His running mate selection of Joe Biden, long one of the Senate's most strident crime hawks and Obama Campaign staunchest drug warriors , was telling. Since the Website vice-presidential pick, Obama and Biden have embraced Sign-up Now for Invitations to Barack criminal justice policies geared toward a larger federal Obama Campaign presence in law enforcement, a trend that started in the Nixon Events. Join Us! administration and that has skewed local police priorities BarackObama.com toward the slogan-based crime policies of Congress, like "more arrests" and "stop coddling criminals." I HATE the Dentist I found you can whiten your teeth PROFESSIONALLY at home and save $$! WhiteningReview.com ALSO IN SLATE

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1 of 3 10/9/2008 7:55 AM Obama's bad criminal justice ideas. - By Radley Balko - Slate Magazine http://www.slate.com/id/2201632

In particular, Biden and Obama have promised to beef up two Can the World's federal grant programs critics say have exacerbated many of Wackiest Chef Get My Kid To Eat the very problems Obama expressed concern about earlier in Vegetables? the primaries. Obama and Biden's position shows an unwillingness to think critically about criminal justice. They are opting instead for the reflexive belief that more federal BUSINESS & TECH involvement is always preferable to less. Why Twitter Doesn't Want To Make Money

The first program Obama wants to revive is President Clinton's Community Oriented Policing Services, which provides federal grants to local police departments. Biden sponsored Clinton's 1994 crime bill initiating COPS and has boasted since then that the bill was responsible for the dramatic 15-year drop in violent THE MOST e-mailed | read crime that began in the early 1990s. The Bush administration began phasing out the program in 2002.

Subprime Suspects To be sure, most criminologists think community policing is a The right blames the credit crisis on poor good idea. It gets cops out walking the beat in the minority homeowners. This is not merely neighborhoods they patrol, talking with the people who live offensive, but entirely wrong. there, and generally acting like part of the communities they posted Oct 7, 2008 By Daniel Gross serve rather than mere enforcers. The idea is to avoid the more aggressive, reactionary methods of policing that have Bogus Trend of the Week: Dudes given rise to the us-vs.-them mentality that divides the police With Cats and the policed in many cities. (For fans of The Wire, think The New York Times' Sunday Styles more Carver, less Herc.) sectiondetects a new craze. posted Oct 7, 2008 By Jack Shafer But there's little evidence COPS has worked, and there's some evidence it has actually encouraged police tactics completely at Diagramming Sarah odds with the objectives of community policing. A 2005 report Can Palin's sentences stand up to a M O RE by the Government Accountability Office concluded that the grammarian? posted Oct 1, 2008 By Kitty Burns Florey JURISPRUDENCE program may have contributed to a minor reduction in COLUMNS crime—a little more than 1 percent—but at a cost of $8 billion. Red Dawn A peer-reviewed study in the journal Criminology concluded Bad Cop Its portrait of Russia is dated. Its portrait that COPS " had little to no effect on crime ." Why Obama is getting of America is timely—and terrifying. criminal justice policy posted Oct 8, 2008 By David Plotz wrong. The main problem with federal block grants is that once they're Radley Balko issued, Congress can't monitor them to be sure they're spent The New Complacency posted Oct. 6, 2008 properly. And that's certainly true of COPS. A 2000 report by Democrats relearn how to take the presidency for granted. Ten To Toss the Madison Times , for example, found that COPS grants, along Readers nominate the with a federal program through which local police departments posted Oct 7, 2008 By Timothy Noah 10th Bush order that obtain surplus military equipment from the Pentagon, led to a the next president mass expansion of SWAT teams throughout Wisconsin in the should scrap. Emily Bazelon 1990s. SWAT teams popped up in absurdly small communities posted Oct. 3, 2008 like Forest County (population 9,950), Mukwonago (7,519), and Rice Lake (8,320). Where the Trail Today's Headlines Leads Next Historical Archives: New Whimsical Tune Helps What does the And not just in Wisconsin. In a survey conducted by inspector general's criminologist Peter Kraska, two-thirds of responding police Drown Out Cries Of Anguish Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 report on U.S. chiefs said SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics "play an attorney firings really important role in community policing strategies." mean for the Justice Historical Archives: Thousands More Teeth Lost Department? Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:00:00 -0400 Dahlia Lithwick PAGE: 1 2 NEXT » » More from the Onion posted Sept. 29, 2008 BACK TO TOP VIEW AS SINGLE PAGE The Downsides of Diversity What Clarence PRINT DISCUSS E-MAIL Thomas might have to OPINIONS say about Sarah Palin. PostPartisan: The Dahlia Lithwick Debate posted Sept. 27, 2008 Robinson | Punch, Counterpunch Radley Balko is a senior editor for Reason magazine . Gerson: Two McCain All for a Brookstone Successes King: Straight Out of Massage Chair? Photograph of the Tulia rally by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers. a Sitcom Meyerson: Old John Ted Stevens on trial. Dionne: Who Is John McCain, Really? Charles Homans JOIN THE FRAY: OUR READER DISCUSSION FORUM Ignatius: In Praise of Complete Sentences posted Sept. 26, 2008 What did you think of this article? Parker: Wake Me When the Debate Starts Editorial: Their Pre-Meltdown Mind-Set Search for more POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Jurisprudence PLUS » Walks Like a Bush, Talks Like a Bush articles

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2 of 3 10/9/2008 7:55 AM Obama's bad criminal justice ideas. - By Radley Balko - Slate Magazine http://www.slate.com/id/2201632

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