Steven Greenhut on Conservatives and Criminal Justice Reform

For advocates of less-intrusive government, finding the good news in the recent election is like looking on the bright side after your house has been wiped out by a hurricane. But there was some good news, however slim, on the ballot in the long-neglected area of criminal-justice reform. California voters passed, by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin, a measure (Proposition 36) that reforms the state's notoriously tough three-strikes-and-you're-out sentencing law. And the measure passed, reports Steven Greenhut, thanks in part to the support of several prominent conservatives. Is the right finally starting to drop its misguided support for tough-on-crime laws?