Newt Gingrich on Crime Former Republican Representative (GA-6) and Speaker of the House

On Ferguson: stop when a policeman tells you to stop

GINGRICH: First, I think we do need criminal justice reform. The system doesn't work right. We have people locked up who shouldn't be. We tear apart communities that need young men to be able to go back home. So, I think we need serious hearings at the federal level. Second, there has to be some recognition--and this will probably get me in trouble--young people should be told, when a policeman tells you to stop, stop. There's a dual requirement here. You have the first African-American president. You have an African-American attorney general. And six years into their effort, we're in some ways further apart. That's a tragic failure of leadership. The community has to respect the police. And the police have to respect the community. And both have failed.

Q: Are you saying that this is the fault of Barack Obama?

GINGRICH: I'm saying that the president and attorney general use language which is divisive.

Supports Prison Fellowship InnerChange Freedom Initiative

You don't have to believe in the power of faith to appreciate the benefits IFI provides to the community: fewer victims, safer neighborhoods, reduced court cases, and fewer prisoners.

Many government officials find a faith-based solution unacceptable. They would rather have people commit more crimes and do more prison time than risk changing their lives with a faith-based approach.

3-strike laws are constitutional; enforce courts compliance

For example, consider the following Ninth Court decisions:
• Andrade v. Attorney General of California, (2001): The Ninth Circuit said the California three-strikes law was unconstitutional; the Supreme Court reversed it.
• Summerlin v. Stewart, (2003): The Ninth Circuit ruled that death sentences must be enacted by a jury, and not a judge, and that the ruling applied retroactively, voiding the death sentences of over 100 inmates. The Supreme Court reversed the retroactive ruling.

Criminal wealth corrupts police and politicians

Prisoners should work and study; not have gyms

Prison in its current form is more an inconvenience than a deterrent. We should eliminate all weight and muscle-building rooms and break down the cult of macho behavior in prison. Prisoners should be learning job skills and doing penance. We must reclaim the prisons just as we must reclaim the streets.

They key is to focus our attention on violent people and not be drawn off into emotionally satisfying detours that harass the honest citizen but have no impact on crime.

Convert decommissioned military bases into prisons

Lock up violent criminals until they're too old for violence

No more endless appeals; make death penalty credible

Fewer appeals; more prisons; victim restitution

We will cut the "pork" in the recently passed crime bill in order to build real prisons, and we will require criminals to serve their sentences, not have them back on the street to terrorize again and again. And to make criminals more accountable, we will force them to pay full restitution to their victims or the victims' families.

And to those who commit felonies with guns, let us be particularly clear: We will require 10 years in jail, minimum, no exceptions.

Limit habeus corpus appeals; too many frivolous petitions

Originally designed as a remedy for imprisonment without trial, it is now a tool for federal and state defendants who have been convicted and exhausted all direct appeals. Critics of the current habeas corpus process argue that

1. most petitions are totally lacking in merit,
2. thousands upon thousands of frivolous petitions clog the federal district court dockets each year, and
3. it allows prisoners on death row to almost indefinitely delay their punishment.

Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment.

More prisons, more enforcement, effective death penalty.

[As part of the Contract with America, within 100 days we pledge to bring to the House Floor the following bill]:

The Taking Back Our Streets Act:
An anti-crime package including stronger truth in sentencing, “good faith” exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer’s crime bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools.