Can you imagine political conservatives advocating prison reform? It is hard to imagine if you are old enough to remember the infamous Willie Horton ads from the 1988 U.S.Presidential race. Willie Horton was a convicted murderer who did not return from furlough, and ultimately committed assault, armed robbery and rage. The campaign of George H.W. Bush seized on the case of Willie Horton in an effort to portray Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, as soft on crime. Two recent pieces – one in the New York Times and one in the Wall Street Journal – suggest that political conservatives are now prepared to re-think their view of prison-reform (although, not for violent offenders like Willie Horton). The first of these pieces ran on June 9, 2013 on the op-ed page, authored by Richard A. Biguerie, the chairman of ConservativeHQ. It was entitled: “A Conservative Case for Prison Reform.” The editorial discussed the current prison system using a politically conservative cost-benefit analysis, and concluded that the entire criminal justice system leads to “excessive and unwise spending,” and “turns out prisoners who are more harmful to society than when they went in…” forbes/sites/insider/2013/06/26/imagine-this-detente-between-the-right-and-the-left-on-prison-reform/
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 20:56:22 +0000
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