The op-ed by Quentin Young that appeared in the Daily Post on December 20 — criticizing the Common Sense Institute “Colorado Crime Wave” report — is an example of political rhetoric posing as scholarship. That is evident from the following excerpt from the column:
[T]he “Crime Wave” report is a cascade of suspect conclusions and conspicuous omissions.
The author of the column fails to demonstrate any “suspect conclusions” or “conspicuous omissions”, other than that they disagree with a political agenda. The author provides no evidence whatsoever that any of the conclusions in the “Report” are wrong.
One aspect of the report the column takes issue with is the idea that if you keep criminals locked up, and require them to post a financial bond to get out of custody when they get arrested, that crime is reduced. But you don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to know that if you keep bad people locked up, they can’t prey on society. That’s common sense.
And common sense is what the author of the column seems to lack. Well, fortunately, the law relies on common sense.
For example, in November, 2019, a Colorado appeals court upheld a conviction against a claim that the prosecutor committed reversible error when he told the jury they should use their “common sense” is deciding one of the essential issues in the trial. People v Payne 461 P3d 630, 642. Other Colorado courts have also said that jurors should use their “common sense” in evaluating evidence.
But rather than common sense, the author of the column resorts to political rhetoric, such as:
Policies that rely excessively on the criminal justice system and incarceration fail to address many of the underlying causes of violence and other criminalized behaviors that would be better addressed through other agencies, organizations, and community-led efforts — issues like unstable housing, poverty, limited educational opportunities, poor health, and inadequate access to services…
Well here’s a revelation. The role of the criminal justice system is to keep the public safe by maintaining law and order. It’s not to be a social welfare agency. The way to protect the public is to incarcerate the criminals who victimize the public – not coddle them.
And where is the evidence that “criminalized behaviors… would be better addressed” through other efforts? The author provides no such evidence. That’s empty rhetoric. The author, like most “criminal justice reform” advocates lives in a fantasy world in which they convince themselves that their unfounded ideas are principles that can translate to the real world, when in fact they are “like, just your opinion”.
These advocates refuse to acknowledge what anyone who has worked in the criminal justice system knows – that there are some very bad people who commit most crimes, and no amount of coddling social welfare will change their behavior. I’ve looked across courtrooms into the eyes of evil, and no amount of “housing”, “educational opportunities”, or “health care” is going to protect society from that evil. That has to be the primary focus of the criminal justice system.
You can tell the column is empty political rhetoric from this statement, “Even if we accept the crime-rate portion of the report, its credibility evaporates upon contact with dubious assumptions and obvious biases.” Okay, lets use that same logic, “Even if we suspend rational though and assume that sentence even makes sense, it’s credibility evaporates after the first clause — that the crime-rate portion of the report is accurate.”
The crime-rate statistics are the only “facts”, while allegations of “dubious assumptions and obvious biases” are merely opinion. And the column’s author apparently doesn’t even recognize his/her own biases — which are flagrant. The author’s idea of bias is that one of the authors of the “Report” was a former district attorney who charged protestors who broke the law. To criminal justice reformers, the “ends justify the means”. If someone is “protesting” then they should be excused for any violence or property damage they commit to the innocent. In other words, anarchy should be permitted in the name of social justice.
The experience of the summer of 2020, and breakdown of civil society in so many large cities, all controlled by Democrats, has proven the ideas of criminal justice reform advocates don’t work. That’s why the “Report” charts “rising rates of violent and property offenses” and establishes “a connection to criminal justice policies enacted under Democrats.”
If it quacks like a duck, and farts underwater like a duck… it’s a duck!
Gary Beatty lives between Florida and Pagosa Springs. He retired after 30 years as a prosecutor for the State of Florida, has a doctorate in law, is Board Certified in Criminal Trial law by the Florida Supreme Court, and is now a law professor.