Is Marc Levin why 'Republicans stopped being soft on crime'?

National Journal credits the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Marc Levin as the explanation for "How Republicans Stopped Being Tough on Crime." He deserves a lot of credit, for sure, along with Jerry Madden, Ray Allen, and a handful of other Texans, plus a few national figures like Pat Nolan and the late Chuck Colson. And his "Right on Crime" branding was pure genius. Congrats, Marc, on the well-deserved attention.

The article closes speculating that a Republican-controlled US Senate might be more receptive to criminal justice reform: "There you have it—prison reform, the final frontier of bipartisan legislation. But as Levin points out, there's just one last thing for Republicans and Democrats working on the issue to sort out: 'The only disagreement sometimes is who's gonna get the credit.'"

That's exactly what's happened here in Texas to change the climate on prison debates. Before Republicans came to power in 2003, the Texas Legislature would rather pass gas in Sunday School than piss off the police unions or open themselves up to the "soft" label, regardless of their personal beliefs. But many Republicans could care less about public employee unions and nobody would think to accuse coyote-shooting, kill-em-all-let-God-sort-em-out Rick Perry of being "soft," particularly because criminal justice discussions in the liberal press tend to myopically focus on the death penalty.

Once the over-incarceration issue became less politicized, budget math and common sense conspired to make reducing incarceration rates and closing three prisons kind of a no-brainer.

H/T: Sentencing Law and Policy.

RELATED: Check out a recent Federalist Society podcast featuring Marc Levin and Pat Nolan.