Joshua B. Hoe Profile picture
Apr 6, 2021 18 tweets 8 min read Read on X
🧵

This will be a long one

I am going to answer @TomCottonAR argument about "under-incarceration," not because I have any illusion of changing his mind but because I want everyone to understand why he and the "tough on crime" crowd are wrong about crime and incarceration
1. Crime rates

Crime is down, violent crime is down, but homicides and domestic violence have spiked during #COVID19

Any claim this is the result of particular reforms doesn't make sense because the rates have increased uniformly across jurisdictions

theintercept.com/2021/02/21/202…
There are a lot of alternative explanations

a) The pandemic - Strain, stress, correlated unemployment, (maybe) lethal Domestic Violence under lockdown conditions as @Abt_Thomas put it:

counciloncj.org/news/550859/Ne…
b) Police illegitimacy - fter George Floyd’s murder there was a decrease in public trust in police and policing...As @Abt_Thomas put it:

theintercept.com/2021/02/21/202…
Gun sales: 19.2 million more guns were sold between January and June than during the same period in 2019. As Phillip Cook put it:

theintercept.com/2021/02/21/202…
2. Incarceration doesn't solve crime

Mr. Cotton assumes that more enforcement and incarceration is a solution, but it is not

a) Even accounting for incapacitation, incarceration causes more crime than it solves
b) Increased enforcement isn't the answer either, in fact the federal government tried to respond to the increase in homicides last year with "Operation Legend" - the result was an increase in incarceration BUT NOT A DECREASE IN HOMICIDES or CRIME

voanews.com/usa/despite-hi…
c) Also, and this is important, believe it or not, the police are not particularly good at solving crimes....especially crimes like the one Cotton is upset about
3. We most assuredly don't have an under-incarceration problem....

We are the most over-incarcerated country on the face of planet earth, we incarcerate more people - and for longer time - than ANYONE and far more than most combinations of countries.
4. We know what works:

a) Structural reform of the systems that generate insecurity and crime

As Adam Gelb put it

usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
b) Criminal justice reform works, in 34 states reform and declines in crime and recidivism worked hand-in-hand

brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
c) we know homicide reduction programs work, when they are actually funded....when their funding gets cut, homicides increase

apolitical.co/en/solution_ar…
And let us not forget, what Mr. Cotton is actually asking for is to double down on a system that incarcerates black and brown people at a level way disparate to their proportion in the population

prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/2…
5. Other bad arguments

a) The spike is not because of progressive prosecutors, you can see plenty of evidence of this on the feed of @JohnFPfaff
b) The spike is not because of bail reform

I answered this above but crime and recidivism decreased in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Kentucky, DC, and many other places after Bail Reform

The New York arguments are also fraudulent

courtinnovation.org/publications/b…
We also need a lot better from the press on this issue

fwd.us/wp-content/upl…
Anyway, the whole assumption that if crime increases that incarceration is the answer is deeply problematic and counterproductive.....we have to stop doubling down on long-failed solutions

theweek.com/articles/97515…
I have zero illusion that Tom Cotton or Tucker Carlson will stop saying these deeply troubling things, that is how they keep the outrage machine rolling.

But it is important that all of us out here in the world outside of their political bubble understand why they are wrong

FIN

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More from @JoshuaBHoe

Aug 21
🧵

Let me explain our opposition to the use of "felon" language in six parts

1. People are more than their worst moments, and when you make someone who committed a felony into a felon... it is dehumanizing and suggests that we are FOREVER second-class citizens.
2. Your best chance at public safety is someone returning from incarceration invested in the body politic, with pro-social dreams of contributing to their community..foreclosing this is a terrible reintegration strategy
3. We believe our rights are non-negotiable. We served our sentences and paid our debt...our rights are not conditional and subject to whim... You don't have to agree... but we will oppose this every time we hear it
Read 9 tweets
Jan 5
🧵

This afternoon I had the privilege of watching a close formerly incarcerated friend present his case to be pardoned

He stayed so calm and respectful, and gave thoughtful answers to every question the AG's office and Parole board asked while answering without sugar coating
I cannot tell you how much this wonderful man has changed since his days of addiction and crime....He helped found several organizations in Michigan, he helped pass legislation that made it possible for the MDOC to hire formerly incarcerated people.....
He got a degree as a social worker and became a respected addiction counselor and then he became the first person the MDOC hired under that new law he helped pass, he pioneered getting city ordinances changed to help formerly incarcerated people get housing in Michigan
Read 17 tweets
Apr 27, 2023
🧵

Let's talk about the crisis in America's jails...a largely silent crisis b/c jails exist at the county level and people only see information about the county they live in.

Why a crisis?

People die every single day across our 2,850 US county jails

reuters.com/investigates/s… Image
Do a search for "jails" and you will see prison stories come up...people use the terms interchangeably, but they are not the same thing

Jails are county facilities that hold people pretrial, people awaiting trial, & people sentenced for one year or less

prisonfellowship.org/resources/trai… Image
In addition, there are federal jails, which function in similar ways for people arrested for federal crimes.

I am doing this thread b/c things are REALLY bad right now across the country

I am just going to highlight stories from the last month that I found doing basic searches
Read 28 tweets
Apr 26, 2023
Still trying to understand this one....46 other states have the exact same level of discovery...their prosecutors don't quit b/c it is too hard to provide evidence to the defense?

When is the NYT going to stop being the patsy?
Prosecutors get paid more than public defenders, they have an investigative arm paid for by tax payers (the police), they have plea bargaining and charge stacking...but copying discovery documents is a bridge too far?
Heck, they even had discovery in Alabama in My Cousin Vinny for God's sake....remember this guy and the hunting trip?
Read 5 tweets
Dec 15, 2022
I wonder if the people tweeting out that "liberalism is a mental disease" realize that their overlords come up with things like that b/c they want to dehumanize the opposition

Why?

Because once you dehumanize someone it is easier to oppress and/or be actually violent to them
There are people, and a lot of "thought leaders" on the right, who are actually trying to prepare the ground for violence and state suppression of difference...that is what they are trying to do...they want you to hate the neighbors who see the world differently than you do
That is also why you see a lot more open militarism on the alt right...for many of us, what they are actually suggesting is ultimately being violent against family members, lifelong friends, and neighbors...why?

Because they want you to believe that they are not actually human
Read 9 tweets
Dec 14, 2022
My first college roommate was a cowboy who loved George Strait and starched his jeans every day...I was a punk rock guy listening to Bad Brains and wearing ripped jeans and combat boots...we agreed about NOTHING..not about food, music, politics, anything..but we still b/c friends
When I was in prison, many years later, one of my bunkies had some serious racism and violence issues...he was nothing like me at all...he was inclined to want to kill me at first...over time I convinced him he was wrong (not kidding) and we b/c good friends
My whole family aside from me (and my Brother) are Republicans...despite all of our differences and everything I have put them through (and visa versa) I love them...they are my family...we get along great
Read 6 tweets

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