Vera’s False Choice on Public Safety
Prevention matters, but prevention without accountability will not protect victims or make communities safer.
In a recent video posted on Instagram, the Vera Institute of Justice claims that voters understand that “more incarceration and more policing don’t make us safer.” Vera argues that public safety comes instead from investments in violence intervention, affordable housing, addiction treatment, and mental-health services.
That presents Americans with a false choice: either we embrace “mass incarceration,” or we invest in programs intended to strengthen communities. It avoids the real public-safety question: What should happen when someone repeatedly commits crimes, violates release conditions, or continues victimizing innocent people?
I support effective mental-health treatment, addiction services, violence prevention, and stronger communities. Those investments can help prevent crime. But treatment does not replace law enforcement. Affordable housing does not arrest a violent offender. Community programs cannot protect the public from someone whose conduct demonstrates that he remains dangerous. Prevention before a crime and accountability after a crime are both necessary.
Vera says that “voters know” more policing and incarceration do not make communities safer. But asking voters whether they support treatment, housing, and community investment does not establish that policing and incarceration have no public-safety value. Most reasonable people support programs that address addiction, mental illness, poverty, and other conditions that may contribute to crime. That does not mean they support releasing dangerous offenders or removing consequences for repeated criminal conduct.
The people missing from Vera’s presentation are the victims—the store clerk who was robbed, the family struck by a repeat drunk driver, the woman assaulted by someone already released, and the neighborhood living with continuing violence. Where is their justice? Where is their protection?
Public safety cannot be measured by how few people are incarcerated. It must be measured by whether crimes are prevented, offenders comply with the law, and innocent people are protected.
Mass incarceration should not be the goal. Neither should mass release, endless second chances, or a criminal-justice system afraid to impose consequences. Treatment should be available when treatment is appropriate, rehabilitation should be encouraged when rehabilitation is possible, and incarceration should be used when necessary to protect the public.
That is not political theater. That is accountability.
