The American Spectator

Very glad to randomly come across the website of Right On Crime, which includes as one of its founding principles the totally-reasonable-yet-willfully-ignored philosophical concept, “Criminal law should be reserved for conduct that is either blameworthy or threatens public safety, not wielded to grow government and undermine economic freedom.”

Were the right to make a serious move to decouple “tough on crime” from the ascendent trend of wanton criminalization, it would be an extraordinarily healthy development.

Here’s another excerpt from the group’s Statement of Principles, signed by a host of conservative luminaries:

Conservatives correctly insist that government services be evaluated on whether they produce the best possible results at the lowest possible cost, but too often this lens of accountability has not focused as much on public safety policies as other areas of government. As such, corrections spending has expanded to become the second fastest growing area of state budgets—trailing only Medicaid.

Conservatives are known for being tough on crime, but we must also be tough on criminal justice spending. That means demanding more cost-effective approaches that enhance public safety. A clear example is our reliance on prisons, which serve a critical role by incapacitating dangerous offenders and career criminals but are not the solution for every type of offender. And in some instances, they have the unintended consequence of hardening nonviolent, low-risk offenders—making them a greater risk to the public than when they entered.