Rep. Dan Crenshaw expressed his support for more lenient jail sentences for those who don’t commit major crimes but said those who deal drugs like fentanyl should go to jail for life.

On the Thursday edition of his podcast Hold These Truths he discussed the topic with Al Massey, who serves as the Executive Relations Manager for the Texas-based Prison Entrepreneurship Program.

The program aims to help reduce the number of inmates who return to prison after their release by providing paths to entrepreneurship and valuable business skills.

“People are real focused on the criminal justice system at the moment because it’s not working. You know, we hinted at that a little while ago where we noted that like a lot of us don’t understand why certain people are in jail and certain people aren’t,” Crenshaw said.

“I tend to have a softer heart with criminal justice reform. And you know, I — ’cause I tend to think that we have to distinguish between people we’re mad at and people we’re afraid of. If we’re afraid of you — you should be in jail. We’re gonna take that extreme step, which is taking away your liberty,” he added.

Crenshaw elaborated that he wasn’t sure if society viewed that as an extreme step anymore.

“I’m not sure we see that as society as an extreme step anymore, but it is — it’s very extreme… Part of me thinks we really should refocus how we administer that kind of justice. You know, are we mad at you? And if we’re mad at you, how else can we punish you without completely ruining you?” Crenshaw said.

“That’s a longer conversation. It’s a philosophical one and it’s for lawmakers to decide, but it’s worth thinking about because, you know, are we making things worse by putting you in jail for certain things?” he asked.

He quickly clarified.

“Now that — that being said, I think people who are dealing fentanyl and killing 80,000 Americans should be put to prison for life. I think that should immediately be our swift justice. I think if you rape a child, you should be put to death. You know, most people listening agree with me on this,” he said.

“But like, there’s just so many people in jail that are not even close to these kind of crimes and are in there for years. I mean years. I swear to God if I do something wrong accidentally one time, you put me in jail for a week, I will have learned my lesson. Like I never want to go back and do that again — I imagine I’ve never actually been,” Crenshaw concluded.

Watch above via Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw.

The post Dan Crenshaw Says He Supports More Lenient Jail Times But Believes Those Who Deal Fentanyl Should Be Imprisoned ‘For Life’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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