We have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. One of the largest police forces. We have more guns than people. And yet, Americans are still scared.
Crime. Again.
This is not a rant about defunding the police or freeing people who have broken serious laws. This is about being “tough on crime,” which Americans are not. We just like to say that we are. But history shows we’re tough only on criminals.
That’s why the prison population has increased so much in the 50 years since President Nixon established the Drug Enforcement Administration and turned the short-lived war on poverty into his disingenuous war on drugs. From Nixon to Reagan to Clinton and then-Sen. Joe Biden — each one introducing policies billed as being “tough on crime” but in retrospect placing us on an unsustainable path of imprisonment that’s costing taxpayers nearly $300 billion a…
