Discussing the Contract part II

Now on to resumption of my Contract with America discussion. Today's item will be:

The Taking Back Our Streets Act

Let's see what Wikipedia has on that.

An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in-sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions (H.R.666 Exclusionary Rule Reform Act, passed US House Roll Call 289-142 2/8/95), death penalty provisions (H.R.729 Effective Death Penalty Act, passed US House Roll Call 297-132 2/8/95; similar provisions enacted under S. 735 [3], 4/24/96), funding prison construction (H.R.667 Violent Criminal Incarceration Act, passed US House Roll Call 265-156 2/10/95, rc#117) and additional law enforcement (H.R.728 Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Act, passed US House Roll Call 238-192 2/14/95).

Now let's look at these bills.

HR 666 "Good-faith" exclusionary rule exemption: On a personal level, I like it. Hell, I think most people like to include good evidence, but the fourth amendment is very important. Also, HR 666? I may no longer be a Christian, but making that an HR for anything serious is probably not a wise idea.

This is a bill I'd vote against, because it is too easily abused, and we don't have a living, constantly evolving Constitution that can evolve away certain safeguards.

Conversely, I do believe public defenders are obligated to give training to police on searching for evidence and doing everything within the rules, so they don't screw up and some lowlife is back on the street. The defender is a public servant and so is the cop. Show him how to succeed in his job, so we can save some money on appeals.

H.R.729 Effective Death Penalty Act

In theory, I favor capital punishment, but I think it should be a state issue and have misgivings about it being in the federal hands. Well, terrorism against a federal building or by an external enemy may make it justifiable, but only within those parameters. I do think the President should be involved in the execution and should be able to look that person in the eye. The guy on death row may be scum, but we are still talking about a human being, and no matter how justified it may be to execute a bad human, the state is still taking a life.

H.R.667 Violent Criminal Incarceration Act

If we can afford to do it, we may need to. These are violent criminals, and a more dangerous bunch. Now, we need to cut some costs and do lifers really need the topnotch medical care they get? Let's cut back on expensive treatments and if some bleeding heart objects, then go get your MD and treat the convicts pro-bono. There's no reason for a decrepit murderer to have expensive medical care.

We can also pack the old farts into tighter cells to make room.

H.R.728 Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Act

Let's see how this is distributed. Right now, we are in a recession, and laying off cops is a bad idea when crime goes up. Some places coughcoughDetroitcoughcough are beyond help and just need martial law since Robocop was just a movie. We can turn Detroit into an urban combat center and MPs can augment the overworked Detroit PD. New Orleans has had the most corrupt police force in the nation, so martial law was needed from Katrina and still needed. Other areas just need a little more cash to keep order, so why not. We can divert all that money we give Hamas. More cops, less terror.