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

Arguments On Criminal Justice Reform
Arguments exist for and against criminal justice reform in the United States. While it is
more common for those on the left to support reform, some conservative groups and
individuals also believe that the system must be reformed.
Conservative Support for Reform
Support for Reform
There is a push from conservative groups such as Right on Crime to reclaim ground in
the debate for criminal justice reform. Although support for reform is typically associated
with liberal ideology, conservative criminological views emphasize the role of individual
responsibility in crime. This parts from the liberal viewpoint that societal pressures
contribute to crime in society.
Conservative responses to crime emphasize holding prisoners accountable. They also
strongly believe in the concept of victim reconciliation, or restorative justice. Restorative
justice focuses on mediation between a victim and offender in order to satisfy both
parties. Furthermore, they believe that victim engagement benefits victims and
offenders because a large part of rehabilitation is the recognition of the impact of their
criminal acts.
The conservative case for criminal justice reform is based on a moral belief in the need
to help offenders turn their lives around, but also necessary for public safety. The
conservative belief is that high incarceration rates reflect an expansion of government
power. Fiscal discipline reflects a large portion of conservative support for
reform. Those that have been advanced in support of criminal justice reform include that
the prison population of the United States costs about $80 billion per year to
maintain. The push for reform emphasizes that it is inefficient to continue to spend such
a large portion of state and national taxpayer dollars on incarcerating such a large
number of individuals. Additionally, conservatives believe that the government should
have greater accountability in reducing rates.
Their proposed reforms have been criticized by some who claim the reforms are driven
primarily by cost benefit analysis and recidivism, not a concern for justice and human
rights, including sociologist Marie Gottschalk, who stated "cost-benefit analysis is one of
the principal tools of the neoliberal politics on which the carceral state is founded."
Liberal Support for Reform
Liberal reformers believe that since the civil rights era, a form of color-blind racism has
developed, reflecting a shift from de jure to de facto racism. Within this, racial minorities,
most often African Americans of a low socioeconomic status, “are subject to unequal
protecton of the laws, excessive surveillance, extreme segregation, and neo-slave labor
via incarceration, all in the name of crime control.” Beyond tangible punishments there
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