Law and Order

Re Scared Silent: Few Choices in Shielding of Witnesses by David Kocieniewski in today's NY Times:

New Jersey is my home state, but the problems associated with street gangs are in just about every state.

The solution to this crisis is to step up funding for law and order, even if that means raising taxes, and to roll back many of the laws and practices which were advocated by the ACLU and similar liberal organizations, which, in effect, coddle the bad guys.

We need to stop freeing the bad guys based on real evidence which is excluded from trials for "technical" reasons. We need to give the police a lot more leeway in shooting and arresting the bad guys. We need to round up known gang members, incarcerate them, and "throw away the keys". We should stop paying legal fees for gang members; we should stop providing them public defenders. (Maybe some of the money now allocated for public defenders could be directed to law enforcement.)

I call on our media to stop crucifying over-zealous cops, and start crucifying the bad guys.

We need the complete turn-around advocated here, until our streets become safe again. Then and only then should we return to the more progressive criminal justice practices now advocated by the ACLU.

By the way, I also favor "social and economic justice", but that is a different topic.