>Maybe if repeated criminal offenders were actually put in jail at all as opposed to drug users, minorities and people disagreeing with cops, then the system will work.

Only 1 in 5 incarcerated people are there on drug crimes We would still have a top 5 highest incarceration rate if we released them all.

However, you're broadly correct as a lot of violent crime and theft is driven by the war on drugs. So reforming our drug laws would do a lot to decrease the incarceration rate overall.

Despite what some people want you to believe, people who seriously injure someone are usually are incarcerated for a significant amount of time. Almost half of the people in prison are there for a violent crime.

The only violent incident prior to this one listed in the article is an attack on police. The injuries were not serious nor were the injuries of the representative. Had he been incarcerated for a year, or 10, it's unlikely it would change his behavior as he appears mentally ill. He would be in his 20s or 30s when release and capable of committing more crimes.

He could be incarcerated for life, but consider how many people that would put in prison. We already have almost a million people in prison for, presumably, more violent crimes than this guy committed, and we do not have the lowest violent crime rate. It's also worth noting that incarcerating him for longer would not have prevented the injuries to police.

What the people complaining about justice system reform are avoiding is a solution that prevents crime.

Allowing children to grow up in poverty increases the chance they will commit violent crimes. Not providing healthcare to people with mental illness does too.

If we released all non-violent offenders from prison, including all thieves and drug criminals, we would still have a higher incarceration rate than anywhere in Europe. And we still don't have a lower homicide rate than them. At this point we have exhaustively proven "lock more people up for longer" is not a way out of violent crime.