Catching the Violent Criminal

I have floated the idea of using checkpoints to catch violent immigrants. Tonight, I have a couple of thoughts — and then I’ll offer an alternative solution.

Thought One: ICE would likely abuse a checkpoint system, engaging in racial profiling and detaining people who are not violent criminals — including U.S. citizens. This is not hypothetical; ICE has already done this in other contexts, so there is little reason to believe they would behave differently under a checkpoint system.

Thought Two: If there were to be a checkpoint system, it should target all violent offenders, not only immigrants. In a typical year, more than 1.2 million violent crimes are reported, and a large share of those cases are never cleared by arrest. Based on clearance rates, that means hundreds of thousands of violent offenders remain at large — and these offenders are overwhelmingly U.S. citizens.

What if we placed our “checkpoints” in retail and other public places? For example, what if we ran quick background checks on anyone entering a bar? When I’ve been pulled over for traffic violations, the officer runs a background check on me in minutes. Bars could do the same, perhaps with police staffing the checkpoints so the cost does not fall on the businesses.

And when someone gets a driver’s license or state ID, is a background check required? Not to my knowledge. Since nearly everyone needs a driver’s license, this would be a logical place to run checks.

Banks? Most people need bank accounts. We could require background checks before someone opens one.