Speaking Thursday in Philadelphia, President Barack Obama tried to impress on the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, the importance of addressing the problem that “in too many places, black boys and black men, Latino boys and Latino men experience being treated differently under the law.”
Not everyone will agree with his analysis. The role of race in the criminal justice process is a subject that has long been disputed. There are probably just as many studies indicating it plays no role as there are saying it is a determining factor. What is undeniable is that, in a nation that holds liberty to be a founding concept, too many people are in prison for too long.
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This is as true for many so-called white collar criminals and those who have, for example, caught too many fish at the wrong time of the year or made mistakes when filling out government-mandated paperwork as it is for many who are incarcerated because they made bad decisions involving illegal drugs.
One who shares this sentiment, apparently, is House Speaker John Boehner. On Thursday, the Ohio Republican endorsed the idea of bringing legislation to the floor that would enact a number of reforms to the criminal justice system.
It is not often that Obama and Boehner are on the same page. In this case they are — and for the good of the country.
The bill Boehner wants on the floor, the bi-partisan SAFE Act, introduced by Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Bobby Scott, D-Va., is an imperfect but fairly comprehensive measure that would address some of the inequities of prison life. One major provision would reserve life sentences for drug trafficking and other major penalties only for those involved at high levels in the organized sale and distribution of illegal narcotics. At the same time, judges would be given more flexibility in the way they deal with low-level offenders and would establish new, special courts just for drug crimes and for the mentally ill.
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This is an excellent place to start, but let it be the beginning of a national conversation rather than an end, after which everyone pats themselves on the back for a job well done and moves on to other issues.
To put it plainly, the U.S. criminal justice system must be reviewed from top to bottom. There is a more than convincing case to be made that prosecutors, especially at the federal level, not only have too much power but that there are few if any effective checks on it.
Chief Justice John Marshall once observed “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.” So too is the power to indict; a criminal charge is often enough to ruin a person’s life even if they may be later found to be innocent. That a person may also be bankrupted in the process of defending him or herself against a federal charge is something that clearly figures into the strategy of those bringing indictments as former assistant U.S. Attorney Sidney Powell, Professor Harvey Silverglate and other have shown in the books they have written on the subject.
As the system is currently configured, the primary focus is on winning convictions. That opens the door to promotions, public attention and lucrative jobs in the private sector. Is it not on the pursuit of justice which, according to the canon of legal ethics, not only should be but is the most important consideration for any prosecutor bringing an indictment or trying a case.
[READ: Punishment Begets Punishment]
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik put it well when he said Monday that any reform effort must go beyond simple sentencing reform. On his list: prosecutorial misconduct, federal Bureau of Prisons oversight, prison population reduction, and the development of prison rehabilitation programs that prepare inmates for life beyond prison walls, instead of serving as a way to pass time on the inside.
“In the spirit of second chances, we must adopt legislation that ensures full rights restoration for nonviolent offenders once they have paid their debt to society. As it stands, second chances are meaningless if non-violent offenders continue being deprived of their civil and constitutional rights for the remainder of their lives,” Kerik said in a statement, and he ought to know. Not only was he was the top cop in the nation’s largest city; he’s also a convicted felon who now heads up the American Coalition of Criminal Justice Reform.
The stars are aligned. Obama and Boehner are of one mind on the need to act. There are 2.2 million people currently in American prisons, some of whom do not need to be there. There is no reason not to go forward.
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Obama and Boehner Are Right to Call for Criminal Justice Reform originally appeared on usnews.com
