"Right on Crime: The Conservative Case for Reform" officially launches

I am pleased to be able to blog about an amazing and very important new group put together by movement conservatives to work on criminal justice issues, Right On Crime.  The group appears to be the brainchild of folks like Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, and Edwin Meese, who are the first three names listed on this Statement of Principles from the ROC group.

Though lots can and should be said about the what is driving this group, I view its development as a direct result of the recent election of lots of new Republican governors facing lots of overcrowded prisons and budget deficits.  (I speculated on this development in a post titled When and how will state GOP leaders start cutting expensive criminal justice programming? a few days after November's election results.)  Tellingly, a top item on the ROC website right now is this posttitled "Reading Material For [Ohio] Governor-Elect Kasich."

Here is the start of ROC's Statement of Principles (which are signed by more than a dozen notable and politically powerful conservatives):

As members of the nation’s conservative movement, we strongly support constitutionally limited government, transparency, individual liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.  We believe public safety is a core responsibility of government because the establishment of a well-functioning criminal justice system enforces order and respect for every person’s right to property and life, and ensures that liberty does not lead to license.

Conservatives correctly insist that government services be evaluated on whether they produce the best possible results at the lowest possible cost, but too often this lens of accountability has not focused as much on public safety policies as other areas of government.  As such, corrections spending has expanded to become the second fastest growing area of state budgets — trailing only Medicaid.

Conservatives are known for being tough on crime, but we must also be tough on criminal justice spending.  That means demanding more cost-effective approaches that enhance public safety.  A clear example is our reliance on prisons, which serve a critical role by incapacitating dangerous offenders and career criminals but are not the solution for every type of offender.  And in some instances, they have the unintended consequence of hardening nonviolent, low-risk offenders — making them a greater risk to the public than when they entered.

Applying the following conservative principles to criminal justice policy is vital to achieving a cost-effective system that protects citizens, restores victims, and reforms wrongdoers.

Regular readers know that I have long been wondering and complaining about the fact that many conservatives, while often complaining about the inefficacies of government programs, have "too often" failed to focus "as much on public safety policies as other areas of government." Thus, I am extraordinarily pleased that this potent new group is going to start playing a role in breaking down the polarizing politics that often derail what strike me as very sensible (and "conservative") modern sentencing and correction reform efforts.

Everyone should spend some time at RightOnCrime.com, which is claiming now to be "the one-stop source for conservative ideas on criminal justice."  The site already has lots of useful content that can and should be utilized ASAP by criminal justice litigants as well as by policy-makers.  (I am hopeful, though not confident, that ROC might start filing amicus briefs in important sentencing/corrections cases in addition to doing policy work and advocacy.)  I know I now will be making the ROC blog a daily visit.

Some recent and older related posts on the modern politics of sentencing issues:

• When and how will state GOP leaders start cutting expensive criminal justice programming?
• New poll reports that large majority of Americans consider "War on Drugs" a failure
• Examining the politics of crime and punishment in modern gubernatorial settings
• Do "mama grizzlies" have a particular approach to crime and punishment issues?
• "Pot and the GOP: Is the party of ‘Just Say No’ morphing into the party of ‘Just Say Grow’?"
• Can GOP "Pledge to America" be read to suggest drawing down federal involvement in the drug war?
• Green tea party: will Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or other professed liberty lovers support ending pot prohibition in California?
• Why doesn't the new Liberty Central website say anything about mass incarceration or the drug war or any criminal justice issues?
• What does the tea party movement have to say about taxing and spending on the death penalty, the drug war and mass incarceration?
• Will we invest in classrooms or cells in these tough times?