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Stephen Smith, Emmett Pepper: Time for Charleston to choose public safety over acting tough [wvgazettemail.com]

 

In America, there are two competing philosophies about what policing should be.

The first philosophy believes the most important thing for cops and courts to do is “act tough.” The act-tough philosophy believes in harsher sentences, bigger jails, greater prosecutorial discretion and giving local police forces the weapons of war. It gave us three strikes, stop and frisk, and mandatory minimums. It criminalizes poverty, immigration status, race, and addiction — all with the aim of supposedly cleaning up our streets.

The act-tough philosophy dominated policing for 40 years. It was first popularized by Nixon and Reagan, then expanded under Clinton and Giuliani, and is now being revived by Jeff Sessions. Every year, legislatures added more years to sentencing guidelines and more dollars to police budgets. We now spend more money on incarceration than ever before. Our police forces have never been better armed.

[For more on this by Stephen Smith and Emmett Pepper, go to https://www.wvgazettemail.com/...bf-b911b80dbe4f.html]

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