There are some who will tell you that we live in an incredibly safe era. That diseases have been defeated. That cars are sturdier than ever. Most importantly: That we experience the lowest levels of violent crime in recent decades.

And yet, there are some who would throw away the unprecedented level of safety we enjoy by passing laws that would throw open our prison doors and unleash hordes of criminals on the unsuspecting masses. They sit there and marvel at the unprecedented peace and muse why we continue to lock people away when safety keeps increasing.

Fortunately, there are a brave few willing to stand athwart trendy nonsense like "prison reform" and shout "Lock 'em up!" Senator Tom Cotton is one such man. For years he has warned against America's shocking "under-incarceration problem." As Cotton noted during a 2016 address to the Hudson Institute, "Law enforcement is able to arrest or identify a likely perpetrator for only 19 percent of property crimes and 47 percent of violent crimes. If anything, we have an under-incarceration problem."

With so many un-caught criminals roaming the streets, doubtlessly brutalizing our seniors, our teens, our single mothers, our handicapped—our most vulnerable citizens—why waste time and effort trying to free more scofflaws? Why spend precious political capital on something as silly as freeing crooks and criminals?

For standing up against the safety-decimating FIRST STEP Act and waging a years-long awareness campaign about America's striking under-incarceration problem, the Washington Free Beacon is pleased to name Tom Cotton a Man of the Year. Lock 'em up, Senator!