Bill Otis’s dissent

The ferocious assault on law enforcement undertaken by Michelle Alexander, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and now the Obama administration culminates in the demand for “criminal justice reform.” It is a cause that appears to be irresistible. Who can stand against “reform,” especially “reform” in the name of racial equity?

Heather Mac Donald can. Her invaluable work cannot be cited too often in this context. I quoted from one of Heather’s City Journal essays at length in my comments on Alexander’s execrable book (linked above). In that particular essay Heather anticipates the present moment and refutes its conventional wisdom.

Paul’s friend Bill Otis and Bill’s hosts at Crime & Consequences go to show that Heather is not an army of one. Mark Obbie profiles Bill and reports on his efforts to turn back the tide in Slate’s “Last man standing.”

Slate’s heading suggests that Bill stands alone. Bill’s C&C host Kent Scheidigger objects that Bill doesn’t stand alone; Bill has others on his side, including former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Ms. Mac Donald. Like Heather, moreover, Bill musters the intellectual firepower of a brigade or two.

The video below excerpts Bill’s remarks at the Federalist Society November 2014 panel “conversation among conservatives” on criminal sentencing reform. (The entire Federalist Society panel presentation is posted here.) Bill packs a solid argument into his ten allotted minutes.

PAUL ADDS: I wrote about Bill’s presentation to the Federalist Society here. But please watch the video and, if you have a bit more time, the entire panel discussion.

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