Charles H. McCall

“ Our biggest single obstacle so far has been the fragmentation of effort in drug addiction control among so many governmental agencies, each of them jealously guarding its independent prerogative and authority. Within Georgia, I am using the full persuasive influence of the Governor's office to overcome this handicap among the state, county and city agenices. The help readily being offered must be part of this single effort within our state, and legislation concerning treatment, and perhaps control of drug addiction and alcoholism should certainly consolidate federal efforts. ”

“ So I come here speaking to you today about your subject with a base for my information founded on Reinhold Niebuhr and Bob Dylan.
One of the things that Niebuhr said is that the sad duty of the political system is to establish justice in a sinful world. He goes on to say that there's no way to establish or maintain justice without law; that the laws are constantly changing to stabilize the social equilibrium of the forces and counterforces of a dynamic society, and that the law in its totality is an expression of the structure of government. ”

“ But who's going to search the heart and soul of an organization like yours or a law school or state or nation and say, "What can we still do to restore equity and justice or to preserve it or to enhance it in this society?"
You know, I'm not afraid to make the change. I don't have anything to lose. But, as a farmer I'm not qualified to assess the characteristics of the 91 hundred inmates in the Georgia prisons, 50% of whom ought not to be there. ”

“ In my opinion, it's different in the case of lawyers. And maybe this is a circumstance that is so inherently true that it can't be changed.
I'm a Sunday School teacher, and I've always know that the structure of law is founded on the Christian ethic that you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself—a very high and perfect standard. We all know the fallibility of man, and the contentions in society, as described by Reinhold Niebuhr and many others, don't permit us to achieve perfection. We do strive for equality, but not with a fervent and daily commitment. ”

“ We need to allot crime-prevention funds in areas that can actually prevent crime, and not just to build jailhouses, or to buy helicopters, and so forth. We need to have full backing for police officers from all public officials. We need to have better street lighting. We need to have surer -- and perhaps briefer -- sentences for those who commit crimes, and that there's a fairly good certainty that if someone is convicted, they'll be punished. We also need to understand the major causes of increases in the crime rate. ”

“ In our prisons, which in the past have been a disgrace to Georgia, we've tried to make substantive changes in the quality of those who administer them and to put a new realm of understanding and hope and compassion into the administration of that portion of the system of justice. Ninety-five percent of those who are presently incarcerated in prisons will be returned to be our neighbors. ”

“ September 13, 1976 JUSTICE Every American has a right to expect that laws will be administered in an even handed manner, but it seems that something is wrong even with our system of justice. Defendants who are repeatedly out on bail commit more crimes. Aggravating trial delays and endless litigation are common. Citizens without influence often bear the brunt of prosecution while violators of antitrust laws and other white collar criminals are ignored and go unpunished. ”

“ Ticking off high rates of divorce, illegitimate births, juvenile delinquency and suicide, venereal disease and drug abuse, Carter said that "the breakdown of the American family has reached extremely dangerous proportions. There can be no more urgent priority for the next administration than to see that every decision our government makes is designed to honor and support and strengthen the American family." ”

“ I don't know exactly how to say this, but I was thinking just a few moments ago about some of the things that are of deep concern to me as Governor. As a scientist, I was working constantly, along with almost everyone who professes that dedication of life, to probe, probe every day of my life for constant change for the better. It's completely anachronistic in the makeup of a nuclear physicist or an engineer or scientist to be satisfied with what we've got, or to rest on the laurels of past accomplishments. It's the nature of the profession. ”

“ I believe that most Americans are willing to forgive mistakes, and I believe that most Americans respect a leader's right to misjudge his subordinates, but Americans do not appreciate deliberate concealing of the truth, and they do not appreciate a breakdown in the respect for the top official responsible for law and order in this nation. ”

“ I think we've made great progress in the Pardons and Paroles Board since I've been in office and since we've reorganized the government. We have five very enlightened people there now. And on occasion they go out to the prison system to interview the inmates, to decide whether or not they are worthy to be released after they serve one-third of their sentence. I think most jurors and most judges feel that, when they give the sentence, they know that after a third of the sentence has gone by, they will be eligible for careful consideration. ”

“ They are controlled by the combined wisdom and courage and commitment and discernment and unselfishness and compassion and love and idealism of the common ordinary people. If that was true in the case of Russia where they had a czar or France where they had an emperor, how much more true is it in our own case where the Constitution charges us with a direct responsibility for determining what our government is and ought to be? ”

“ We've now passes a Constitutional amendment, which is waiting for the citizenry to approve, that establishes a uniform Criminal Justice Court System in this state so that the affairs of the judiciary can be more orderly structured, so that work loads can be balanced and so that over a period of time there might be an additional factor of equity, which quite often does not exist now because of the wide disparity among the different courts of Georgia. ”

“ Swift arrest and trial and fair punishment should be expected by those who would break our laws. It is equally important to us that every effort be made to rehabilitate law breakers into useful and productive members of society. ”

“ Governor Jimmy Carter said he agrees with the Supreme Court decision upholding jury-imposed death penalties.
Although he said he would be "personally reluctant to impose the death penalty," the governor said threat of execution may serve as "a restraining influence" in many instances.
"I do not believe at this time society can afford the use of the death penalty. I do believe that this is a deterrent, especially in certain cases such as in the murder of a prison guard by someone already under life sentence." ”

“ Carter said he sees three "misunderstood" Georgians - the middle class who are "sick and tired of the apparent breakdown in law and order," the policeman who "performs a most sensitive function in a complicated modern society, most often without adequate training or compensation," and the young criminal who, under the current system "will be unlikely to realize his potential and assume a useful and productive role in society." ”

“ CRIME
"Our best defense against skyrocketing crime is a criminal justice system that can deliver swift, certain, fair and firm justice. The present system has shown itself incapable of doing any of these things."
Carter campaign brochure CRIME Carter will offer to put criminal justice back in balance by prosecuting businessmen and bureaucrats, congressmen and judges who violate the laws. ”

“ In general, the powerful and the influential in our society shape the laws and have a great influence on the legislature or the Congress. This creates a reluctance to change because the powerful and the influential have carved out for themselves or have inherited a privileged position in society, of wealth or social prominence or higher education or opportunity for the future. Quite often, those circumstances are circumvented at a very early age because college students, particularly undergraduates, don't have any commitment to the preservation of the way things are. ”

“ After our recent experiences with Watergate, it is important that national government once again become a government of the people. Accountability is an elementary principle of democratic government. S.1 makes government officials less accountable to the people by not only making "just following orders" a valid defense for any public servant, but also by making it illegal to release misclassified documents. ”

“ However, he now believes that marijuana ought to be decriminalized (as opposed to legalized) making simple possession a misdemeanor.
Although he has not campaigned as a law-and-order candidate, his 1970 statement on campus violence and the restoration of order show him to be more conservative on the crime issue than he at first appears. He said that he would issue shoot-to-kill orders in campuses where disorder had become chronic and that he would "be as tough as I possibly can be in stamping out drugs." His positions on legalized gambling and capital punishment have varied. ”

“ When the State Chamber of Commerce lobbyists go there, they go there to represent the businessman of Georgia. They don't go there to represent the customers of the businessman of Georgia.
When your own organization is interested in some legislation there in the Capitol, they're interested in the welfare or prerogatives or authority of the lawyers. They are not there to represent in any sort of exclusive way the client of the lawyers. ”

“ To gain more interest in serving the state by working in the "dirty" field of criminal justice, Carter says he wants to raise the image of the Corrections and Pardons and Paroles Board membership nearly to the status of judgeships.
Atlanta Constitution
January 5, 1971
"We cannot educate a child, build a highway, equalize tax burdens, create harmony among people, or preserve basic human freedom unless we have an orderly society. Crime and lack of justice are especially cruel to those who are least able to protect themselves. ”

“ The key to lowering the crime rate, Carter says, is to find jobs for the seven per cent unemployed in America. He favors handgun registration, and prohibition of the sale of cheap firearms, as well as "heavy punishment for those who push any kind of drugs, including marijuana." ”

“ Every farmer that I know of, who is worth his salt or who's just average, is ahead of the experiment stations and the research agronomist in finding better ways, changing ways to plant, cultivate, utilize herbicides, gather, cure, sell farm products. The competition for innovation is tremendous, equivalent to the realm of nuclear physics even. ”

“ Many politicians now feel that the cost of caring for a modest increase in the number of addicts is a reasonable trade-off for a significant anticipated drop in the crime rate in their communities by removing the high cost of obtaining heroin. ”

“ The federal government can provide a model for the states by revising our system of sentencing, eliminating much of the discretion given to judges and probation officers, insuring greater certainty in sentencing and confinement, and insuring a higher percentage of serious criminals being imprisoned. ”

“ S.1 could possibly stop newspapers from printing such things as the Pentagon Papers, and possibly could prevent reports such as the stories about the grain deals with Russia.
S.1 has many vague provisions which could be used against people disliked by those running the government. And S.1 contains the provisions which would stop us from discovering those abuses. Secrecy in government is cancerous, as Watergate has taught us, and S.1 is designed to make government more - not less - secret. ”

“ In every age or every year, we have a tendency to believe that we've come so far now, that there's no way to improve the present system. I'm sure when the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, they felt that was the ultimate in transportation. ”

“ Citizen confidence in law enforcement can be enhanced through increased citizen participation, by informing citizens of police and prosecutor policies, assuring that police departments reflect a cross-section of the communities they serve, establishing neighborhood forums to settle simple disputes, restoring the grand jury to fair and vigorous independence, establishing adequate victim compensation programs, and reaffirming our respect for the individual's right to privacy. ”

“ We've now established in the Georgia Constitution a qualifications commission, which for the first time can hear complaints from average citizens about the performance in office of judges and can investigate those complaints and with the status and the force of the Georgia Constitution behind them can remove a judge from office or take other corrective steps. ”

“ May 24, 1976 CRIME Mr. Carter favors registration of handguns but not rifles or shotguns. He would permit the death penalty for certain crimes such as murder by a prison inmate. He notes regularly in his speeches that most crimes are committed by poor people against poor people, and he proposes extensive prison reform. ”

“ February 11, 1976 "I favor registration of handguns, a ban on the sale of cheap handguns, reasonable licensing provisions, including a waiting period and prohibition of ownership by anyone convicted of a crime involving a gun and by those not mentally competent."
Carter campaign issues reference book
March 15, 1976
GUN CONTROL
He has a mass-supported gun-control education program about to be launched. He claims it will bring gun control to a nation that has shown, by a large majority, that it desires it. "Within five years we'll break the National Rifle Association." ”