PLATFORM : Driven by Fear

Ask 10 people if they think the sentences for criminals are tough enough or should be made longer. Then ask them if they know what the current sentence is for a given crime.

You’ll frequently hear that sentences should be longer but won’t often find someone, criminals included, who know what the current sentences actually are. That’s a problem.

The trend toward toughening criminal sentences is driven by fear, often justified, but not always tempered by reason. Unfortunately, this indifference to justice erodes the very thing that makes our community livable: Our desire to be treated fairly and with dignity, and to not be controlled by fear.

These sentencing trends also narrow the problem to finding the guilty and punishing them. Crime is more than just the offender, and justice is more than the length of the sentence. Crime destroys our community, justice is making things right.