Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
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Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

'Clean Slate' Proposal Better Than Prescribing 'Poison Pills'

IN A BLACK AND WHITE world, the bad guys are locked up in prison and 
the good guys are on the outside, living blemish-free lives. But the 
world has never been black and white, and the issue of who gets 
locked up in jail has become increasingly gray over the past few 
decades, even as the prison population has exploded by a factor of 
four in as many decades.

The fact is that who gets locked up is not inscribed in the 
Constitution. Society and its shifting mores has always determined 
who gets jailed - including the 17th century when people could be 
imprisoned for incurring debts.

More recently, changes in policies in the early 1990s, including a 
war on drugs, broadened the kinds of crimes that mandated jail. Not 
surprisingly, this lead to a dramatic rise in incarceration; while 
the U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population, it has 25 percent 
of the world's prisoners. This mass incarceration has continued even 
as the crime rates have declined.

But there is increasing understanding that these policies have done 
more harm than good, especially in the black community, where a 
wildly disproportionate number of blacks are targeted for arrest and 
imprisonment. In fact, according to Pew Research Center study, black 
men were six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated.

There is even more awareness that arrest rates are divorced from 
actual crime rates. For example, while whites and blacks use drugs at 
the same rates, blacks are far more likely to be arrested for selling 
or possessing drugs than whites.

And let's not forget the Department of Justice report following the 
incident in Ferguson, Mo., which found that the city has almost as 
many active arrest warrants as it has residents. Such warrants, often 
from traffic tickets or other minor infractions, was a way for the 
city to raise money, mostly from low income blacks.

Our imprisonment spree has had serious consequences. For example, 
having a criminal record is a major barrier to finding work, and this 
barrier is a key driver to high poverty rates. A criminal record is a 
"poison pill," creating obstacles not only to work but to housing, 
education and public assistance - no matter how minor the crime.

Yesterday, state Sen. Stuart Greenleaf and the Senate Judiciary 
Committtee held hearings on how that might change. A "clean slate" 
proposal that has gained support of bipartisan groups, including the 
Coalition for Public Safety calls for minor nonviolent records to be 
automatically sealed once individuals have proven their 
rehabilitation through remaining crime-free for a set period of time. 
Supporters say the proposal has the potential to make a huge dent in 
the poverty rate, boost labor force participation, and save taxpayer 
dollars in reduced incarceration costs. And it will increase public safety.

Isn't it better to give more Americans the chance for a decent living 
than to continue to inflict punishment, especially since that 
punishment extends to families, communities and taxpayers? This is an 
easy change that lawmakers should enact as soon as possible.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom