[Lamplighter]

A coincidence of NY Times news articles today and Glatt's post above.
...maybe a bit of "deeper thinking" is creeping into society at large


NY Times
JANE GROSS
12/3/13
Born of Grief, ‘Three Strikes’ Laws Are Being Rethought

<snip>A few noted criminologists predicted at the time that “three strikes” laws,
which would sweep the nation, were unlikely to have much effect on crime,
would fill the nation’s prisons to bursting and would satisfy frustrated voters
at the expense of bad public policy. They were largely ignored.

As this Retro Report points out, California voters eventually concluded
that its three strikes law was excessive in its zeal and financial burden,
and last year they amended the law that Mr. Reynolds had put before them two decades earlier.
<snip>

——————

NY Times
LIZETTE ALVAREZ
December 2, 2013

Seeing the Toll, Schools Revise Zero Tolerance

<snip>The Florida district, the sixth largest in the nation, was far from an outlier.
In the past two decades, schools around the country have seen suspensions,
expulsions and arrests for minor nonviolent offenses climb together
with the number of police officers stationed at schools.

The policy, called zero tolerance, first grew out of the war on drugs in the 1990s and became
more aggressive in the wake of school shootings like the one at Columbine High School in Colorado.<snip>

But in November, Broward veered in a different direction, joining other large school districts,
including Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and Denver, in backing away from the get-tough approach.

Rather than push children out of school, districts like Broward are now doing the opposite:
choosing to keep lawbreaking students in school, away from trouble on the streets,
and offering them counseling and other assistance aimed at changing behavior.<snip>