Swelling prison populations but little else

Updated April 11 2017 - 10:58pm, first published 3:34pm

The latest call for mandatory sentencing looks as predictable as it is thin. The predictability lies in offering up a simplistic, populist solution for a complex problem. The superficiality lies in the proposals lack of adequate costing both in terms of dollars but more critically in the social consequences of a vastly expanded prison population. Perhaps worse is in the likelihood that in its reactive ease it does nothing to address the root problems of crime and risks either doing little to enhance public safety or even exacerbate a recidivist crime cycle.

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