ReMARCs: Historic Effort to Reform Criminal Justice System Will Transform the Nation

This week, President Obama became the first sitting President to visit a prison. He commuted the unduly harsh sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders. And he outlined a vision for a fairer, more efficient justice system.

The President’s effort to reform the nation’s criminal justice system reform is historic, necessary, and welcome. The United States is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. We spend $80 billion a year on incarceration. As the President pointed out, that’s enough to fund universal preschool for every 3-year-old and 4-year-old in America, enough to double the salary of every high school teacher in America, or enough to eliminate tuition at every public colleges and university.

Our twisted incarceration policy is holding us back as a nation, and destroying individual lives. African Americans and Latinos, while only 30 percent of the population; make up 60 percent of inmates. About one in every 35 African American men, one in every 88 Latino men is serving time compared with one in 214 white men. One million fathers are behind bars. Around one in nine African American kids has a parent in prison.

Fortunately, the drumbeat for reform is growing louder. We can and should create fairer courtrooms, more functional corrections and rehabilitation systems and stronger communities.