NEW ORLEANS — Like most of you, I want all violent offenders locked up. But retribution is only part of the answer to Louisiana’s crime problem.
For decades, we led the world when it came to locking ‘em up and throwing away the key. It didn’t reduce crime. In fact, crime steadily got worse.
So, we can’t focus only on retribution. We also have to fight poverty and illiteracy. We have to invest in rehabilitation, because at least 95 percent – yes, 95 percent – of those in our jails will be released. If we don’t educate them and give them job skills, what will they do when they get out?
If we’re serious about fighting crime, we have to be smarter about it than the average criminal.
Clancy DuBos is WWL Louisiana's Political Analyst and a Gambit columnist.