PRESIDENT Barack Obama has called for a major overhaul of the nation’s criminal justice system, urging Congress to pass legislation to improve sentencing laws, particularly those affecting minorities, for non-violent crimes.
“Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and we need to do something about it,” Obama said on Tuesday, July 14 at the NAACP’s annual convention in Philadelphia. “In so many cases, the punishment simply does not fit the crime.”
The government spends billions on prison costs, with California, New Jersey, and New York leading in expenses ranging from $50,000 – $60,000, according to the US Census and the Vera Institute.
Statistics cannot be ignored: the US accounts for 5 percent of world’s population, yet houses 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. According to stats, the US incarceration rate is four times higher than China’s.
African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately affected, Obama noted.
“In too many places, black boys and black men, and Latino boys and Latino men, experience being treated different under the law,” he said, backing his remarks by data.
The President’s speech came as support for new sentencing laws is spreading across the political spectrum. Obama and his aides hope that bipartisan endorsements will help push lawmakers into taking action to help resolve deep-seeded problems that have led to the largest prison population in the world.
Among the advocates for easing mandatory minimum sentencing laws: Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic frontrunner, whose husband oversaw large increases in the prison population as president in the 1990s; Sen. Rand Paul, running for the GOP nomination, who has introduced legislation reforming sentencing laws; and Charles and David Koch, two industrialist billionaires who have recently funded efforts backing reform.
“The eyes of more Americans have been opened to this truth,” Obama said. “The good news–truly good news–is that good people of all political persuasions are starting to think we need to do something about this.”
Calling the current justice system “skewed by race and by wealth,” Obama called for investments in alternatives, such as drug courts and minimizing or eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes, and investing more in juvenile delinquents.
The President also voiced support for banning a box on job applications for convicted felons, and said that those who have served time and paid their debts to society “should be able to vote.”
Following the recent high-profile deaths of black men involving police, Obama also called for more community policing programs that have brought communities together and in communication with law enforcement.
“We’ve got to invest in opportunity more than ever,” he noted, quick to point that the resources used now to incarcerate millions of Americans could be better diverted to crime prevention or public safety programs.
He also spoke about the brutal, hush-hush conditions too often found in US prisons—including prison rape and solitary confinement, saying these have “no place in any civilized country.”
Obama’s speech was part of a renewed White House push this week for Congress to quickly reform the nation’s crumbling criminal justice system. On Monday, July 13, he commuted the sentences of 46 people in federal prison, 14 of whom were serving life terms. Many of the prisoners had crack cocaine violations, which came with drastically higher mandatory sentences than those for powdered cocaine.
Before his speech on Tuesday, Obama briefly met with formerly incarcerated individuals in Philadelphia, who shared their stories of reintegration into society and efforts to help others in similar situations, including youths. He also commended several groups of lawmakers who are pushing for legislation on the issue, including 2016 Republican candidate Sen. Rand Paul, for their efforts.
“There’s momentum building for reform,” the President said. “Virtually all of the people incarcerated in our prisons will eventually, someday, be released.”
Obama also became the first sitting President to visit the inside of a federal prison on Thursday, July 16, when he visited the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma.
“Every single one of them emphasized the fact that they had done something wrong, they are prepared to take responsibility for it, but they also urged us to think about how society could’ve reached them earlier on in life to keep them out of trouble,” the President said Thursday.
His push to reduce minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, along with other items on his agenda, including raising the minimum wage or expanding overtime pay, is part of an address to the issue of racial inequality before his term ends next year.
“We have to consider whether this is the smartest way for us to both control crime and rehabilitate individuals,” Obama said. “We have to reconsider whether 20 year, 30 year, life sentences for nonviolent crimes is the best way for us to solve these problems.” (With reports from CNN, The Hill, NBC News)
