Public Safety committee  Thank you for the opportunity to talk more about the “right on crime” initiative. It is motivated by a conservative view of taxpayer dollars and fairness. Some who are involved in the prison fellowship are faith-based organizations that are really concerned about the offender and

Public Safety committee  The conservatives who joined the “right on crime” initiative are saying it's good to re-evaluate where we are in the United States on incarceration policy. It's not saying everything we did was wrong. We're not saying it didn't have a beneficial impact. We're saying that in terms

Public Safety committee  Thank you, and excellent observations. At the federal level, on drug cases it's primarily the large trafficking organizations that are targeted. At the state level it's more routine crime and that's where much of the reform is taking place. We talked about drug treatment cour

Public Safety committee  Our mandatory minimums are five years for an offence in which someone's carrying a firearm. It's five years for some levels of cocaine distribution. So again I leave that to your good discretion in terms of what mandatory minimums should be. From the American experience, though

Public Safety committee  That's correct. But in North Carolina—just so I understand it—in 1980-92, the crime rate went up. Did the incarceration go up as well, then?

Public Safety committee  The incarceration went down and crime—

Public Safety committee  Well, I'll just go back to my point earlier. I think that the “tough on crime”, the increase in incarceration rate that began in the eighties, has had an impact on bringing crime down, as well as, perhaps, other factors. But no, I'm here to talk about the American experience. I

Public Safety committee  You know, I was impressed by that fact that was presented. I don't know that age is a factor as much as that they meet the minimum standards that are required today. You can have an old facility that meets minimum standards and has been modernized.

Public Safety committee  Old construction is always expensive construction.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely.

Public Safety committee  The crime rate has gone down in the United States. I would probably argue that the increased incarceration rates had a positive impact on reducing the crime rate. Everybody can argue statistics in different ways, but that's my view on it. At the same time that we had this crackdo

Public Safety committee  I would not disagree with it. Those statistics are appalling and the recidivism rate is much, much too high. That's why I applaud Texas. Based upon the “right on crime” initiative, instead of going to another expansion of prisons, Texas put money into trying to help those who a

Public Safety committee  That's where you've got to be careful not to go too far. Let me make it clear that it's a set of principles. What the “right on crime” initiative says is it's the right thing for conservatives to re-evaluate our incarceration policies in the United States. That's a very importan

Public Safety committee  This is a great challenge, and I'll answer it by simply referring to one of the principles of our “right on crime” initiative, which is that the criminal justice system must be transparent and include performance measures that hold it accountable for its results in protecting the

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am delighted to be here at the invitation of the committee. I felt it was important as a former U.S. government official to recognize the great friendship we have and to appear before your committee and to share the American experience. You introduce