The Libertarian's Plan to Fight Crime in America
Crime- it's what concerns American voters the most. While the latest statistics show that violent crime rates have stabilized somewhat, prisons are more overcrowded than ever before, and random office and school shootings continue to proliferate. Crime is often labeled one of the ills of society but this is a misnomer that suggests that crime is a type of disease that can be eradicated with a vaccine. The plain and simple truth is that crime has always existed, since the beginning of human civilization, and will continue to exist until the end of civilization. The vast majority of the population do not commit crimes, and they do so not because of a punitive law, but simply because they do not have the desire to commit the crime. Those that do have the propensity towards violence certainly take no interest in the consequences of their actions-other than to avoid getting caught. Crime legislation should focus on citizen preparation and swift and uniform punishment for perpetrators of violent crimes.
The Libertarian Party's analysis of anti-crime legislation by both Democrats and Republicans is that there's been lots of tough talk but little concrete action. Despite decades of anti-crime legislation, prison overcrowding has reached a crisis point, millions of tax dollars have been wasted on failed crime prevention programs, and both the rights to privacy and to defend oneself have been trampled on under the guise of "it's for the good of society."
Libertarians criticize currently popular policies like "three strikes and you're out" as only adding to the prison overcrowding problem. Three time offenders of certain violent crimes are automatically incarcerated for life, leading eventually to a whole population of geriatric prisoners who if released would probably prove to be less of a threat than first or second time offenders who, because of lack of space, are released before they finish serving even half of their sentence. "Three strikes and you're out" is a tough sounding but short-sighted remedy to the crime epidemic.
The Libertarian's crime-fighting plan is victim-centered, whereas now the victim is secondary, as perpetrators are accused of committing crimes "against the state." With the Libertarian plan, the right and interests of the victims are top priority. Restitution is a component of the plan. Criminals would be held monetarily responsible in addition to incarceration. How would prisoners pay such restitution? By industrializing prisons, and giving the prisoner's earnings to the victims and their families. Many prisons already utilize inmates for various kinds of work. There is a mass labor pool to be found in the prison population, and the Libertarian crime plan would seek to put that to good use.
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