The Danger of So-Called Criminal Justice Reform

Senator David Vitter of Louisiana was on Secure Freedom Radio with Frank Gaffney this week to discuss a number of issues. Vitter is Chairman of the Congressional Border Security Caucus and the Senate Deputy Whip.

Vitter is an opponent of the criminal justice reforms which have been making their way through congress in recent months. Gaffney asked him to explain his concerns:

“There’s been a movement of criminal justice reform around the country, mostly at the state level. Some of that, if done right, makes sense, reducing sentences in some cases for true non-violent offenses, etc. I think, swept up in that has been this federal bill that has been introduced which would dramatically reduce numbers in federal prisons even though that has been happening already and is already slated to happen to a very significant degree. Now the state system is a different planet from the federal system, Frank. In the federal system, when you talk about criminal prosecutions you’re almost always talking about the leaders of organizations, folks who have truly violent records and so I think there is just far, far less of a problem or a need of this sort of reform… What it would result in, bottom line, is releasing some very serious and violent criminals and I think that’s a horrible idea.”

Gaffney then turned the conversation to the back door efforts of the United Nations to recognize the Palestinians as a state, a move Vitter opposes. He asked Vitter to weigh in on the issue:

“We have U.S. law now, established U.S. law, that we’re not going to send any U.S. dollars to any UN organization that recognizes the Palestinian authority as a full member and that’s been U.S. law for a while. Now, President Obama and Secretary Kerry have clearly ignored this law and are just getting around it with regard to this new UN climate fund and treaty… It’s just completely ignoring and violating existing U.S. law, in my opinion.”

Vitter went on to say that opponents are looking at all options to stop Obama.

Gaffney also asked Vitter about Obama’s awful Iran Deal and his impressions of the sanctions policy of the Obama administration:

“What I’ve seen since the deal was sealed is two very different things in terms of behavior on the part of Iran and the United States. On the part of Iran, they have really made very clear they’re not stopping their terrorist anti-U.S. agenda in any way shape or form. They’ve made that clear through rhetoric, even more importantly, they’ve made that clear through actions, through advancement of ballistic missile testing, etc. At the same time, the U.S. behavior has been exactly the opposite, we’ve been bending over backwards to go beyond our obligations in the deal to integrate them back into the international community to its benefit.”

Should we have expected anything different from Obama and John Kerry?