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Will there be any interesting or surprising crime and punishment discussion at tonight’s first GOP debate?

By Douglas Berman

Issues of crime and punishment (and drug policies) have gotten a little play in the early days of the 2024 campaign, but tonight’s scheduled GOP debate would be a high-profile opportunity for a candidate to say something notable about crime and punishment issues.  In this vein, I have seen one press piece and one lengthy substack entry flagging criminal justice issues in the run-up to the debate:

From the Washington Examiner, “Up for Debate: Trump, DeSantis, and 2024 GOP hopefuls’ stance on crime“

From The Watch (by Radley Balko), “My questions for the GOP candidates: Here’s what I’d ask the also-rans at Wednesday’s Trumpless debate“

I like a number of Radley Balko’s questions, but he fails to suggest asking the GOP candidates about former Prez Trump’s signature criminal justice reform achievement, the First Step Act.  Here is one version of a question I would love to see asked on that front:

President Donald Trump helped push the sweeping federal criminal justice reform, the First Step Act, through a GOP-controlled Congress in 2018.  In part because of that legislation (as well as pandemic developments that led to Trump’s Justice Department placing thousand more defendants on home confinement), the federal prison population decreased almost 20%, dropping from about 190,000 total federal inmates in January 2017 to just over 150,000 in January 2021.  With the benefit of hindsight, do you view these laws and related developments to be a part of President Trump’s record that he should be especially proud of, or do you think this is a part of his record that you would be eager to reverse?

I am fairly certain this question will not be asked, but the efforts by some of the candidates to throw shade on Prez Trump’s work on the First Step Act would make for an interesting discussion.  Here is hoping that at least something interesting will happen during the GOP debate, though I am not holding my breath.

Some prior related posts: