The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

one set of kids and we call the police on another set of kids. That’s not the right thing to
do. We have to make sure that our juvenile justice system remembers that kids are
different; don’t just tag them as future criminals, reach out to them as future citizens. *
On Sentencing Reform:
For nonviolent drug crimes, we need to lower long mandatory minimum sentences or
get rid of them entirely. Give judges some discretion around nonviolent crimes so that
potentially we can steer a young person who has made a mistake in a better direction...
We need to ask prosecutors to use their discretion to seek the best punishment, the one
that is going to be the most effective instead of just the longest punishment. We should
invest in alternatives to prison, like drug courts and treatment and probation programs,
which ultimately can save taxpayers thousands of dollars per defendant each year.
(See SAFE Justice Act)
On Prison Reform
Some criminals still deserve to go to jail. And as Republican senator John Cornyn has
reminded us, virtually all of the people incarcerated in our prisons will eventually,
someday, be released, and that’s why the third place we need reform is in the
cellblock… While the people in our prisons have made some mistakes, and sometimes
big mistakes, they are also Americans. And we have to make sure that as they do their
time, and pay back their debt to society, that we are increasing the possibility that they
can turn their lives around.
… We should not tolerate conditions in prison that have no place in any civilized
country. We should not be tolerating overcrowding in prison, we should not be tolerating
gang activity in prison, we should not be tolerating rape in prison, and we shouldn’t be
making jokes about it in our popular culture. That’s no joke. These things are
unacceptable. (See “Pulling the Teeth from the Prison Rape Elimination Act”)*
On Solitary Confinement
What’s more I have asked my Attorney General to start a review of the overuse of
solitary confinement across American prisons. The social science shows that an
environment like that is often more likely to make inmates more alienated, more hostile,
potentially more violent. Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone
in tiny cells for 23 hours a day for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not
going to make us safer, that’s not going to make us stronger, and if those individuals are
ever released, how are they ever going to adapt? Our prisons should be a place where
we can train people for skills that can help people find a job, not train them to become
more hardened criminals. (See GAO Report on segregated housing in federal prison)
Ban The Box — On Job-Training For Inmates And Opportunities For Ex-
Offenders:
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