Like the reform movements cloaked in economic equality, criminal justice reform is based on pseudoscience. When mid-century intellectuals promoted collectivist principles, it was based on large part on what F.A. Hayek called the cult of science from Fabian Socialists. Humankind is still in the pinnacle of the scientific renaissance; but that is science … the hard sciences. Hayek observed in the 1940’s that intellectuals would crudely apply scientific terms to social problems, but social engineers simply cannot master the forces of society (the economy) as true scientists have learned to master the forces of nature. This failed notion led to the belief that intellectuals should direct society and its economy (i.e., big government, socialism). Criminal justice reform efforts are likewise shrouded in these scientific terms and completely ignore the experience of law enforcement professionals. Here is a quote from my book that encapsulates the dilemma, “Simply propping up a position statement with academic words like ‘evidence-based research,’ ‘peer reviewed,’ or ‘validated’ may sound good in graduate school, but it is of little meaning in the pursuit of bandits.” (Brian Surber, Injustice for All: The (Familiar) Fallacies of Criminal Justice Reform [True Blue Publishing, LLC 2021) pp. 25-26).
