"Criminal Justice Reform" is the name usually given to the movement to reduce incarceration. Sometimes, although less frequently, it denotes efforts to scale back proactive policing.
I've spent a good deal of time opposing these efforts, for pragmatic reasons if for no others. The fact is that increased use of incarceration and more aggressive policing are two of the principal causes of the huge decrease in crime victimization over the last generation. I don't know of any serious person who denies this fact.
Today, I saw in the (very) liberal journal ThinkProgess an article titled "North Carolina's Bathroom Law Is Invigorating the Push for Criminal Justice Reform." Down the page, I found this sentence:
Criminal justice reform is a critical issue for the trans community. From the time they are stopped until they land behind bars, trans people experience violence and discrimination at the hands of the system every step of the way.
It is, I suppose, possible this sweeping claim is true, but.....ummmm.....I have my doubts. In the 18 years I was an AUSA, not once did I even encounter anyone hinting that he or she was "trans," and still less did I see, or hear of, "violence and discrimination" against a transgendered person. Nor did sex per se have beans to do with whether a person would "land behind bars." That was a function of their behavior.
Still, if this is the kind of over-the-moon support criminal justice "reform" is getting, I think I'll be able to relax my efforts. With friends like this..................
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