A Former Tough-on-Crime Prosecutor Has Regrets

A former Chicago prosecutor who embraced the "lock 'em up" ethos of the 1970s now says he helped build something that has gone too far. In a New York Times opinion piece, Algis Baliunas reflects on his years in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, when long sentences were seen as public-safety tools. He writes, however, that time and data have undercut that belief. The US prison population has exploded from about 200,000 to more than a million, with a fast-growing share of elderly inmates who statistically pose little risk of reoffending.

"We were wrong," he writes. "I have seen people change behind bars in ways the criminal justice system did not anticipate." Baliunas centers his rethink on Larry Hoover, a onetime Chicago gang leader who at 75 has spent more than five decades behind bars and is seeking clemency from Illinois' governor. Having encountered Hoover as a prosecutor and later as a defense lawyer, Baliunas argues Hoover no longer presents a threat. "The United States criminal justice system needs to grow more comfortable with asking when punishment has done enough," he writes. Governors, parole boards, courts, and prison officials can help. Read the full essay.