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O’Brien wants harsher punshment for criminals, especially those convicted of drug trafficking drugs. He wants the legislature to approve mandatory life sentences, with the first chance of parole after a minimum of 25 years served, for people convicted in major drug dealing cases.
“A drug deal is a planned transaction,” O’Brien said. “If we can make the risks higher than the potential profit, maybe we can stop some of it.
“I look at my kids, and I realize that is the hardest thing they — and me and wife as parents — are going to have to face.”
“We need more public awareness about the problem, like we now have with DWI. You can pass all the laws you want, but until you change the public’s attitude, it doesn’t mean much.”
And he would like to put drug dealers in prisons that in tjie future may be run by private compnaies rather than the state. Citing the example of a prison operated by a private contractor in Tennessee, ntractor, O’Brien claimed Virginia’s prison costs could be cut up to 25 percent if the system were contracted out.
And in the current corrections system, under fire for the last two years for various problems, O’Brien would like to see some reforms.
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