President Obama wants Congress to overhaul the criminal-justice system, and he laid out proposals for undoing the damage of mass incarceration.
“We’ve locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before for longer than ever before,” Obama said, “and that is the real reason that our prison population is so high.” If you get caught for a low-level drug offense or parole violation, he continued, “you owe some debt to society, you have to be held accountable, and make amends. But you don’t owe 20 years. you don’t owe a life sentence. That’s disproportionate to the price that’s being paid.”
Obama has now commuted 89 sentences, more than any other president but still far from what criminal-justice activists have called for. Last year, the Justice Department announced it would start a new initiative to grant nonviolent offenders clemency, but those efforts have moved slowly. Many current presidential candidates have already said they want to reduce the nation’s massive prison population, from Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton to libertarian GOP candidate Sen. Rand Paul. On Tuesday, 60 groups joined together to urge the leaders of the House Oversight Committee to take up the cause of reforming the criminal-justice system. In a letter, the advocates called for changes that include an end to draconian mandatory-minimum sentences, more support for men and women leaving prison and returning to their communities, and the expansion of compassionate release for sick inmates.
Although this week will mark several positive steps to change the American justice system, it also commemorates a tragic event: Friday is the one-year anniversary of the death of Eric Garner, the unarmed 43-year-old Staten Island, NY, man whose death at the hands of a police officer inspired massive protests and helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement……
See full story on refinery29.com
Photo: Susan Walsh/AP Photo