“Even with overwhelming and bipartisan support for incarcerating fewer people overall, releasing prisoners convicted of murder, assault, and other violent offenses continues to be a third rail issue in presidential politics, says Howard Henderson, founding director of the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, the historically Black college that hosted the debate. “It’s not yet politically safe to discuss the violent crime issue because so much of the public is still focused on the idea of retribution in that space,” he said.”

The Appeal

September 13, 2019