03/16/2013
Harold PollackEarlier this week, I drove down to Springfield to testify about mandatory minimum sentences for illegal gun possession. Appearing alongside county prosecutors and Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy, I felt like a stage extra in a Scott Turow novel.
I do hope Illinois establishes tougher sentences in this area. The prototypical Chicago homicide follows a pretty simple formula: A couple of volatile young guys plus some disagreement plus the presence of a gun equals dead body. We could do a lot better in that plus gun part. CPD captures nine times as many guns per-capita as the NYPD does, and nearly three times as many guns as the LAPD does. When people are caught with illegal guns–particular when that gun is not involved in some other crime—the criminal justice system doesn’t always take these cases as seriously as it should.
Game theorists will recognize the self-reinforcing nature of this problem. Surveys of even serious offenders indicate that the most prominent initial motive for gun-carrying is self-protection. Young offenders arm-up because they are scared of each other. They believe (rightly, in equilibrium) that their rivals will have guns. I met a public health student yesterday who summarized things pretty succinctly: “You’d rather be caught with a gun than without one.” Not surprisingly, once an offender has the gun–and carries it in public–other things are bound to happen. That gun turns out to be pretty handy for other crimes, too.
I’m not a huge fan of mandatory minimums, particularly in the area of drug-selling or mechanical policies such as three-strikes applied to nonviolent crimes. I think differently about illegal guns. Buying and selling these weapons–carrying them, brandishing them in public—these activities support the ecosystem of lethal violence. Swift and certain sanctions are essential to disrupt this ecosystem. The sanctions don’t have to be draconian, but should include credible time in jail.
@haroldpollack
by Kim Onisko on March 16th, 2013 at 10:48
Thanks, very informative. I’m a fairly conservative former resident of Detroit. I practice as a CPA, am an NRA member and a gun owner. I applaud your efforts to get illegal guns off the street.
by Marc Brown on March 16th, 2013 at 11:41
In the UK since 2004 we have a mandatory sentence of five years for possessing illegal firearms (three years detention for 16-18 year olds). People don’t serve the full five years but it’s undoubtely a big deterrent.
In the US, I would think that just as important are much more severe penalties for firearms that cross from legal to illegal hands, with the tracking and registration that entails.
by Kelly Williams on March 20th, 2013 at 08:08
I have nothing against possession of firearms as long as they are licensed as well as they know how to use it and not to abuse it and hurt other people.
by Floccina on March 21st, 2013 at 12:03
I think that even for this mandatory minimum are a bad idea. I think that is better to work ensure that more conviction and work to get to such disagreement fast that to increase the punishment. More policemen seems to work harsher punishment much less.
by Floccina on March 21st, 2013 at 12:20
Wow I really messed that text up. Here is my comment edited:
I think that even for illegal guns mandatory minimums are a bad idea. I think that it is better to work to ensure more convictions and work to get to such volatile situations faster than to increase the punishment.
More policemen seems to work, harsher punishment much less.
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment, he argues that when it comes to punishment, there is a tradeoff between severity and swiftness. For too long the U.S. has erred heavily on the side of severity, he says, but concentrating enforcement and providing immediate consequences for lawbreakers can reduce crime while putting fewer people in prison.
To me keeping people from violently harming one another is the main domestic function of Government. The fact that they do it very poorly adds to my doubts about giving them more to do in the area of healthcare.