Every day we see and hear politicians talking tough on crime. It's an
accepted fact that one cannot get elected to political office unless they
espouse what they feel the public wants to hear about crime. And that is
"get tough on crime." Lock 'em up, throw away the keys. Now it's "three
strikes" and you're out. Georgia now has a "two strikes" and you're out law.
And California has a "one strike" law that concerns sex crimes. The climate
reflects the attitude that we should put criminals away for longer and
longer sentences. The more we kill, the less criminals left on the streets
to commit new crimes ... Even the U.S. Supreme Court clearly favors
execution ... There is basically no rehabilitation in our prisons. It is
openly admitted that what goes on in our prisons is warehousing ... so
without rehabilitation you just dump these uneducated and bitter individuals
back onto the streets without any chance to survive ... There are no quick
fixes here, only quick sound bites by our leaders who decry "get tough on
crime." What we should do is to   "get tough on solutions." '

Richard Rossi,   IN SOLIDARITY,  Vol. III, No. II, Spring 1995