Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jul 2015
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376

OBAMA TACKLES A WORTHY CAUSE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

In words and in deeds, Barack Obama is ramping up his crusade for 
criminal justice reform, a worthy undertaking for the final two years 
of his presidency.

In a rousing speech to the NAACP on Tuesday and in more measured 
tones at the White House on Wednesday, Obama made the case that we 
need a more just criminal justice system as an issue of civil rights 
and racial equality.

Thursday, he became the first sitting president to visit a federal 
prison - a penitentiary in Oklahoma - to spotlight the subject. 
Earlier this week, he commuted the sentences of 46 federal drug 
offenders, doubling the number during his presidency and surpassing 
the total of his four predecessors combined.

With about 4 percent of the world's population, the U.S. has more 
than 20 percent of its prisoners. The population in federal and state 
prisons and local jails has exploded from 500,000 in 1980 to 2.2 
million. And that spike has largely been driven by nonviolent drug offenders.

The president is clear that violent criminals and drug kingpins need 
to be in prison. But far too many Americans have been locked up for 
too long for minor drug offenses. That wastes money that should go to 
solving violent crimes, putting more police in high-crime cities and 
investing in drug treatment, job training and mental health care 
programs that will help reduce crime and make us safer.

The skewing of the justice system ripples throughout our society, 
especially in minority communities burdened with poverty, 
unemployment and failing schools. The racial disparities in police 
stops and sentencing are well documented.

"We can't close our eyes any more," Obama told the NAACP.

As our first black president, Obama has a special authority on this 
subject. He says that he could have been one of those men on street 
corners with little hope and no margin of error to avoid prison, 
except that people in his life pulled him out of his youthful drug use.

"There but for the grace of God," Obama said after touring the El 
Reno federal prison. "And that is something we all have to think about."

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling forced California to confront prison 
overcrowding. Now, the state is at the forefront of this change. Gov. 
Jerry Brown's public safety realignment of 2011 keeps lower level 
offenders out of prison, and forces counties to handle them. Last 
November, voters approved Proposition 47 to turn drug possession and 
other nonviolent offenses from felonies or "wobblers" to misdemeanors.

The impact is still unfolding, though rehabilitation programs need to 
expand and improve, and it appears that car theft and some other 
property crimes are increasing.

As the president correctly noted, this opportunity for real reform 
will last only as long as crime rates - at historic lows - stay under control

Obama said he's "modestly optimistic" that there's enough bipartisan 
support in Congress for change, starting with reducing mandatory 
minimum sentences for drug crimes. Criminal justice reform is a 
mammoth undertaking. Bringing more fairness to sentencing low-level 
drug offenders would be a good start.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom