OnTheIssues interviews with presidential candidates: on Crime

Paul Adams: Re-educate people instead of punishing them more

A: I don't believe we have evolved enough spiritually as a species. We need to re-educate people not punish them more. An African tribe, so I am told, will sequester a member who has violated the tribe's rules in a camp surrounded by the elders who will, for two weeks, remind him of all his kind acts and good deeds and accomplishments since he was a child, in order to re-instill in him a desire to behave civilly. We need that kind of empathy for those who lose their way.

Marc Allan Feldman: $50,000 per year for jail? Punishes taxpayers, not criminals

A: Oppose. If it costs $50,000 per year to provide security, food, housing, healthcare, etc. to a prisoner who stole $1000, then it is the taxpayer really being punished. Our focus should be on efficient and effective ways to build respect for the law, crime prevention, and restitution, not punishment. Our judicial system is not nearly fair, effective, and error-free to justify the death penalty.

Mark Stewart: Justice is compassionate when murderers are put to death

Mark Stewart: Strict punishment may make ex-cons better humans

A: There is no question that stricter punishment reduces crime. At a minimum, it gets bad guys off the streets longer. At the more optimistic level, it almost certainly det

Jim Hedges: Stricter punishment reduces some crime

A: somewhat agree

Roseanne Barr: Opposes death penalty

Q: Oppose

Roseanne Barr: Opposes mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws

Q: Oppose

Virgil Goode: Supports the Death Penalty

A: Yes.

Virgil Goode: Supports Three Strikes sentencing laws

A: Yes.

David Walker: Death penalty only when DNA evidence & jury are conclusive

A: Yes, for very few crimes and subject to DNA testing. DNA should be used when possible and if it's conclusive then the death penalty is acceptable. If DNA can't be used, or it's not conclusive, then either they're deemed innocent, or they're not subject to the death penalty. To impose the death penalty should require a finding of guilty by a jury of one's peers, AND conclusive DNA testing.

David Walker: Mandatory sentencing only for limited severe crimes

A: Yes, but for a limited number of crimes. Not for marijuana use, as an example. For the record, I don't smoke marijuana. And I don't have glaucoma.

Rocky Anderson: Strongly opposes the death penalty

A: Strongly Oppose

Rocky Anderson: Strongly opposes mandatory sentencing laws

A: Strongly Oppose

Andre Barnett: Supports the death penalty

A: Agree.

Andre Barnett: Opposes mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws

A: Disagree, must be viewed on a case by case basis.

Robert Steele: Prison complex is a slave industry

• When government and corporations are the greatest criminals, new perspectives are needed
• No death penalty--life at hard labor instead
• End three strikes and out, end corruption in the judiciary
• End prison complex as a slave industry, end rape and other abuses in prison

Robert Steele: Strongly opposes the death penalty

A: Strongly Oppose. There is no justification for the murder of another human being when alternatives are available, to include life in prison at hard labor. There are those who believe that the death penalty encourages deviants who wish for "suicide by cop."

Robert Steele: Opposes mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws

A: Strongly Oppose. The federal judiciary is out of control and has been captured by corporate interests including the prison-congressional complex that treats prisoners as slaves and profits from their labor.

JL Mealer: Support death penalty only for absolutely proven crimes

A: SUPPORT/OPPOSE. Only for absolutely proven rape, incest, premeditated murder.

JL Mealer: No mandatory sentencing

A: OPPOSE. Modern legal system is ineffective with special interests, lobbyists and life term judges, and makes certain punishments unconstitutional.

Scott Keller: Address the root causes of crime, rather than Three Strikes

A: Oppose. Crime rates in the US will dramatically lessen if we address the root causes of most crimes--imposed scarcity, poor economic models, and poor educational models among others. If someone gets to three strikes then the problem may really be ours, not theirs. This doesn't mean to be soft on crime, but rather to be harder on the roots of the problem rather than trying to only deal with the symptoms.

Scott Keller: Killing is no "payment" for a crime, not even a murder

A: Strongly opposed. Killing someone does not bring about a "payment" for a crime, not even a murder. I think we can be more innovative and thoughtful and come up with ways that the criminal can be useful to society and useful to the victim's family rather than becoming murderers ourselves as a society.

Prison/jail needs to be a place of reform and repayment rather than just a place of needs-met isolation from society. I have a number of ideas and suggestions for how to make prison work for society rather than just being a burden on society. An example America could take after is the Norwegian prison system, which at first glance may seem to nice, but in reality, effectively lowers crime rates and rehabilitates criminals. We don't even try to rehabilitate people in prison and Jail any more.

Brian Moore: Abolish the death penalty

Brian Moore: Base justice system on mediation and rehabilitation