“Glorious Failures”:
When it comes to criminal justice, Winston Churchill’s saying that Americans can be relied on to do the right thing after they have tried everything else has to be modified: the right thing tends to get its day only when states run out of cash. A squeezed budget is one reason why Los Angeles County’s D.A., Steve Cooley, is hostile to three strikes laws. Lack of money also explains why Republicans in South Carolina are considering a halt to imprisoning non-violent drug offenders. Sending someone to prison at a cost to the taxpayer of some $50,000 a year for trying to steal $29 worth of plumbing supplies is not only a daft idea; it is strictly a bull-market approach to criminal justice.
