"If the state does not control organized crime, it will control the state."
"We need a single federal alcohol-drug institute so that all those working in this broad and interrelated field can go to a single source for information and support."
"Something is wrong with our system of justice...Defendants who are repeatedly out on bail commit more crimes. Aggravating trial delays and endless litigation are common."
Carter said that controlling crime is a "tough question." He said, "I don't think that incarceration is the answer. I've never seen a rehabilitation result from long incarceration in prison. I think a streamlining of the court procedures, or an abbreviation of the trial procedure, assure punishment of a briefer period of time, administrative officers for the courts, an emphasis on prevention of crime in areas where crime is so rampant with not building jailhouses, but having more concentrations of police officers; better lighting would help, but the overall, only solution that I can see to the crime problem, and it would be substantive, is the reduction of unemployment."
Carter would permit capital punishment in a few cases, such as a murder by a prison inmate serving a life sentence. He would also require judicial safeguards on the imposition of the penalty.
Carter claims credit for a "comprehensive judicial reform package" in Georgia.
"I honestly believe -- and you may not like my answer -- that one of the best ways to cut down on crime is to cut down on unemployment...Your own son, if out in the street and unable to find work, might turn to crime."
