A letter to the Sacramento County Supervisors

 It's with profound disgust I read the Supervisors have approved a $450m expansion of the County's jail.

In light of that colossal misallocation of resources, I suggest we revise our county's motto to "The beatings will continue until morale improves."

Here's from a NY Times article The Root Cause of Violent Crime Is Not What We Think It Is

"If throwing money at police and prisons made us safer, we would probably already be the safest country in the history of the world. We are not, because insufficient punishment is not the root cause of violence. And if people are talking about how tough they are and how scared you should be, they care more about keeping you scared than keeping you safe....

"In Denver, a five-year randomized control trial of a program that provides housing subsidies to those at risk of being unhoused found a 40 percent reduction in arrests among participants. These kinds of results are why localities from New Jersey to New Mexico are restructuring their local governments to invest in the social determinants of health and safety...

"If you want policies that actually work, you have to change the political conversation from 'tough candidates punishing bad people' to 'strong communities keeping everyone safe.' Candidates who care about solving a problem pay attention to what caused it. Imagine a plumber who tells you to get more absorbent flooring but does not look for the leak. "

I say shame on all of you who voted for this monstrosity, and who continue to believe that more incarceration will solve anything.

--Your constituent
--Mark Dempsey