School of Law Dean Ronald Weich: 'We Need Rational Laws' on Crime
March 14, 2023
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A recent dispute over proposed reforms of the criminal code for Washington, D.C.—which resulted in a bipartisan rejection in the U.S. Senate of the rewrite after it was approved by the D.C. City Council—is raising issues about citizens' representation and the potential for statehood for the District.
On March 13, University of Baltimore School of Law Dean Ronald Weich joined a panel on WAMU's 1A program to discuss the impact of legal reforms on the political process.
Crime "is an emotional subject, and it's easily exploited by policitians who can play on those emotions," Weich says. He points out that the political label "soft on crime" and its variants have been in use for decades, including during the debate over the D.C. crime bill.
Dean Weich says there is a pendulum effect in criminal law, and right now policymakers are leaning away from harsh sentences, mandatory minimums for criminal convictions, and so on. The dispute in D.C. may signal that the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction, he says, while the core problem goes on.
"We need rational criminal codes," Weich says.
Listen to this episode of 1A.
Learn more about Dean Weich.