MSNBC's Hayes: 'Frustrating' That 'More People in Prison' While 'Crime is Going Down'
On Friday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes did not seem to recognize that putting criminals in jail contributes to reducing crime as he declared that it was "frustrating" to him that there has been more "incarceration" while "crime is going down."
As the MSNBC host brought aboard California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee as a guest to discuss some of FNC host Bill O'Reilly's recent commentary on racial issues, Hayes at one point complained:
What I find most frustrating is what we have seen is incarceration go up at the same time that crime is going down, and yet the fear level is still stoked, even though what we have objectively is less murders every year, we have less crime, we are living in a safer society, and we are putting more people in prison.
Below is a transcript of the relevant exchange from the Friday, July 26, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
CHRIS HAYES: And here's what I say to you as a mother of two black sons and as someone who is now in the United States Congress, serving there for a while. What I find most frustrating is what we have seen is incarceration go up at the same time that crime is going down, and yet the fear level is still stoked, even though what we have objectively is less murders every year, we have less crime, we are living in a safer society, and we are putting more people in prison.
REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA): You know, we have not dealt with the structural issues here in this country as it relates to institutional racism. When you look at three strikes, for example, in California, and the majority of African-American and Latino young men incarcerated, 25 years to life for nonviolent offenses.
When look at mandatory minimum sentences, crack cocaine, it was 100 to 1, now it's down, I believe, 18 to 1. Thank goodness. Because legislation that the Obama administration signed. It should be 1 to 1. You're looking at real issues around institutional racism in the criminal justice system, and our educational system. Every economic and social institution has this running as a thread through it.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
