Some criminal justice system reforms

There are some criminal justice system reforms which can be implemented without much additional cost but many reforms can be made at additional cost which may be prohibitive to many financially stressed communities. I will start with minimally costly reforms which mostly just require a change in laws and their implementation.

Implementing fair and proportional sentencing based primarily on age and previous criminal history.

Establishing clear guidelines on the use of force by law enforcement.

Treating drug addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal one.

Expanding eligibility for criminal record expungement to help individuals with a past conviction secure employment and housing.

Imprisoning violent offenders and giving repeat violent offenders rather lengthy sentences. For violent domestic offenders methods other than incarceration are usually advisable.

Then there are some relatively expensive criminal justice reforms, which could certainly be supported if we eliminated any number of the endless handouts.

Promoting community policing to build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. This could take the form of foot policing and policing on bicycles to supplement police patrol cars. Unfortunately, this would not be very viable in high crime areas where the added protection of police patrol cars is necessary for police officers to protect them from assault on the street.

Creating specialized crisis intervention teams to handle mental health crises or increasing training for law enforcement on dealing with individuals with mental health issues.

Expanding educational and vocational programs within prisons to facilitate reentry into society.

Increasing the number of judges thus trying to reduce case backlog and delays in the court system. Building more prisons may be advisable surrounding some high crime communities.

Increasing funding for public defender offices to ensure effective representation for all defendants, especially the financially handicapped.

Implementing technology to improve the efficiency and transparency of the criminal justice system.

Implementing risk assessment tools for bail decisions, especially for repeat offenders who should have higher bail amounts.

Requiring body cameras for all law enforcement officers. Establishing clear policies on the use and release of body camera footage. Ensuring consequences for officers who tamper with or disable cameras.

Mandatory sentences for illegal drug dealers, especially for dangerous highly addictive drugs like fentanyl.

Introducing predictive policing technologies responsibly.

Mandating comprehensive data collection on the criminal justice system thus increasing transparency.

Phasing out the use of private, for-profit prisons.

Improving procedures for the exoneration of wrongfully convicted individuals and establishing compensation and support for exonerees.

Expanding support services for crime victims and ensuring victims are informed and involved in the legal process.

Implementing rigorous screening for law enforcement applicants.

Studying and implementing successful criminal justice practices from other countries and learning from global experiences to improve domestic systems.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults. This is why rehabilitation of criminal adults is seldom successful and should not be implemented in any serious way.

Suggesting that police should be defunded or that all police are violent racists just lowers the morale of the police force and makes them less likely to put their lives on the line under emergency situations. This is why positive community involvement is so important although it becomes an extreme challenge in poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Ultimately a well-functioning criminal justice system needs brave community involvement and swift and just sentencing with fines or appropriate punishment in jail without too much reliance on plea bargaining to lesser charges. Take the violent offenders off the streets and give repeat offenders longer prison sentences.

Tolerating low-level theft and considering these offenses as misdemeanors up to a thousand dollars is an insane stimulus for an ethos of stealing which eventually sweeps across the rest of the citizenry; tolerate low-level crimes and they grow into higher level crimes eventually.

Our criminal justice system needs improvement with relatively fast, just, sentencing and not a leniency of criminal activity since we often neglect the importance of the victim’s predicament and suffering.

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