Huang: Most people who commit violent crimes do not carefully consider whether or how they will be punished for these crimes  And those who don' t commit violent crimes have no inclination to do so  Rather than impose harsh mandatory sentences, we should attend to the root causes of violence to reduce the rate of violent crime  Suarez: Would you say the same about nonviolent crimes, such as tax evasion  Surely mandatory penalties are a useful deterrent in these cases
At any rate, I am confident that mandatory sentences prevent most people who would otherwise physically harm others from doing so
the best way to reduce violent crime is to address the root causes of violence