I have been talking about sentencing reform for a long time now, and until recently it was a dirty word in Sacramento.  That has seemingly changed, as Schwarzenegger has seemingly accepted that there must be some sentencing reform.  However, his plan for a sentencing comission was to create a panel that would recommend good public policy, and then the elected officials would ignore it.  Not so the Dems:

Democrats in the state Senate filled in the blanks Wednesday on their version of a sentencing commission by proposing a panel with the power to set prison terms that could be amended only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

The Senate Democrats’ take on a sentencing commission differs markedly from the one offered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 2007-08 budget. Rather than adjusting the length of terms, the Republican governor’s commission would only make recommendations on sentencing policy and devote its first year of research to the state’s much-criticized parole system. (SacBee 3/15/07)

But don’t worry, Todd Spitzer is still holding it down for letting elected officials rule sentencing rather than a panel that would take into account actual public policy concerns.

“There’s not one Republican, and I would be surprised if there were many Democrats who are not soft on crime who would vote for that bill,” Spitzer said.

So, let’s get this straight, 17 states that have these comissions? Soft on crime? Federal judges who are about to open the doors of our decrepit and overstuffed state prisons? Soft on Crime.  That’s all they can say, “Soft On Crime.”  They have no real solutions to the questions involved in the prison crisis, so they just get up on their “Tough On Crime” high horse and galavant around town.  What has “Tough on Crime” given us? Overstuffed prisons, a ballooning prison budget, and a 70% recidivism rate.  Oh, and we will soon approach 1% of all Californians in prison.

Tough on Crime is a ridiculous notion, and it’s time to start challenging Spitzer and the other hooligans on the right to actually explain themselves.  Just saying Tough on Crime isn’t enough.