Why a strong, united America requires effective criminal justice policies

The U.S. stands at risk of future instability, and perhaps even the grim prospect of states seceding from the Union, a recent Canadian intelligence report suggested. Even though a new poll finds that 21 percent of Americans think we would be better off splitting into separate red and blue nations, this prospect is unthinkable and unlikely, not to mention unlawful.

But as more Americans express an openness to engaging in political violence and arm themselves for a variety of reasons, we must stand strongly united against a rising tide of separatism, domestic terrorism, and vigilantism — whether it comes at us from the right or the left.

Just as many police officers at the Capitol insurrection stood in the breach to protect the pillars of our democracy, we must summon just an iota of the courage they displayed to build consensus around policies that give all Americans confidence that their government can and will protect them.

Implementing effective and fair criminal justice policies that reflect consensus and instill confidence is essential to our nation’s future unity and vitality. Amid virulent controversies over many other matters, some might wonder why. There are several reasons.

First, the most fundamental reason to create government and cede a limited degree of our autonomy to it is to protect our lives, liberty, and property. This theory that originated with philosopher Thomas Hobbes heavily influenced America’s founders, who sought to create a framework for ordered liberty in lieu of the extremes of anarchy and tyranny. In this sense, government is the antidote to vigilantism. Unfortunately, many Americans believe law enforcement is unwilling or unable to fulfill this role. Some see government as impotent in preventing and responding to street crime and mass shootings while others, and indeed some of the same people, worry about violence and racism at the hands of police.

One illustration that some Americans are apprehensive about both threats has been the growth in gun purchases over the last two years, which has risen the fastest among minority groups, including African-Americans. Though all Americans have a right to buy a gun, this trend has been attributed to concerning factors, such as a rise in hate crimes, a view that police do not provide sufficient protection, and even worries about police brutality.

Second, criminal justice policies that a consensus of Americans can regard as fair and effective are vital to fulfill the most basic responsibility of government. The daily existence and peace of mind of every American depends on the perception and actual state of public safety. Families are most likely to flourish and businesses are most likely to invest in neighborhoods where there is a sense and reality of safety.

For our nation to reach its full potential, it must resemble a rowboat that moves to the extent everyone pushes in the same direction. This requires that all Americans must also view the government — and police as its representatives — as legitimate. The degree to which Americans report crime and cooperate with police to solve it is closely tied to perceptions of police legitimacy.

The jury system, too, relies on unifying criminal justice policy. It presupposes that a cross section of Americans can arrive at the same conclusion after reviewing the facts and law.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the Constitution and the bulwark of equal justice under the law do not allow for more than one set of laws or procedures, but instead require that everyone, from the Jan. 6 rioters to the Seattle radicals who declared a so-called “autonomous zone,” be governed by the same universal laws.

Having each worked over more than a decade in the criminal justice reform movement, we feel so strongly about the centrality of sensible criminal justice policy to our nation’s future that we are now bringing our varied perspectives and backgrounds to the task of balancing personal freedom with public safety. That’s why we have joined together to launch “Centering Justice,” an initiative at the Council on Criminal Justice that will uncover the common threads uniting Americans in pursuit of fair and effective policies to promote public safety, individual liberty, and due process.

Centering justice must start with telling the truth based on evidence and data, including acknowledging the limitations of existing knowledge, and letting the ideological chips and policy implications fall where they may. For example, as serious a problem as police brutality is, we must acknowledge that police killed or were directly involved in the deaths of an estimated 1,055 civilians in 2020, which is just 5 percent of the nation’s 21,570 homicides. Though 83 percent of the victims of police shootings were armed, there is insufficient data to determine what percentage of police shootings were necessary for self-defense. We can recognize the gravity of the cases where police clearly violate a person’s civil rights and liberties — and the loss of public trust those cases cause — and pursue solutions without suggesting that police killings represent a large share of the nation’s homicide crisis.

Truth-telling also means dispensing with canards like the “thin blue line” that none other than George Kelling, the “father” of broken windows policing, rejected. The notion of the “thin blue line,” Kelling rightly argued, pretends that somehow the police can simply deliver public safety like a box of pizza to our communities, when in fact it is through partnerships and mutual trust that police can best gather the information needed to solve serious crimes and protect the public.

Even as we confront hard truths, we must break through cynicism to identify strategies that are working in communities across the country, many of which involve law enforcement and community groups partnering to co-produce public safety. An inspiring example is Newark, N.J., which has both achieved a 50 percent decline in homicides since 1990 and a concomitant dramatic reduction in police use of force and complaints. This has been attributed in part to the strengthening of bonds between police and the community through meaningful engagement and incorporating citizen feedback into police practices.

Finally, our goal of ensuring liberty without lawlessness is about more than police and the other components of the criminal justice system. It requires reclaiming our pluralist national identity that, unlike in many other nations, is not defined by race, religion, or place of birth.

America, as painfully and deeply imperfect as it was from the beginning, is an idea — one that stands in stark opposition to the “blood and soil” mantra that neo-Nazis chanted in Charlottesville in 2017. Part of the American idea is that, despite our differences, we are all equally deserving of both safety and justice, sheltered under the rule of law’s universal umbrella.

We may have presumed that it was our birthright to witness a peaceful transition of power and, similarly, to be able to walk outside our homes at night without having to worry about being attacked. However, these aren’t entitlements we can take for granted and simply depend on others to deliver.

Instead, we must draw a line in the sand, roll up our sleeves, and do the heavy lifting of defending both our democracy and the rule of law.

It takes a criminal justice system that both protects public safety and individual liberties to ensure that America does not fall victim to vigilantism or separatism, but instead maintains the strength to endure for generations and overcome all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Marc A. Levin, Esq. is Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice and can be reached at mlevin@counciloncj.org and on Twitter at @marcalevin. Khalil A. Cumberbatch is Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Council and can be reached at khalil@counciloncj.org and on Twitter at @KhaCumberbatch.