Thread by @JohnFPfaff

1. Honest question: have any high-profile pundits, policy makers, or (sigh) “influencers” provided a nuanced take on Bevins? Or linked the Bevins coverage to Cuomo’s dismal pardoning practices or the recent PA parole board fiasco?

Because it matters.

2. The public as a whole is profoundly misinformed about prisons.

They think abt 50% of all ppl are in for drugs. It’s 15%.

55% are in for violence. Those serving long terms (where parole/commutations matter most)? Over 95% in for SERIOUS violence.

3. As a result, even liberals are unwilling to rethink how we punish violence.

As the screaming over Bevins, and silence over PA Board of Pardons, makes clear.

We have convinced ourselves we can solve this easily. We cannot.

4. Compare us to, say, Holland and (the western parts of) Germany. Sure, we have more lethal violence per capita. But these differences also reflect a willingness to treat violence differently.

5. And don’t say “we’ve always been different.” We weren’t, as recently as the 1970s.

As Stuntz convincingly argues, shift came in the 1970s, not so much from rising crime, but from civil unrest of that time.

White suburbanites were indifferent to rising crime until Watts, etc.

6. Which is to say, these attitude are not static, they are not historically inevitable, and it is essential that we ponder why we have them now.

But as long as even prominent liberals express outrage over Bevins but silence over PA, we will be the world’s imprisoner.