Many Politicians Are Taking the Lead in Overhauling Broken Justice System (But Most of Them Are Not In D.C.)
There is an endless ticker of tweets coming out of our nation’s capital, tracking, day-to-day, blow-by-blow, the new political landscape. If you stare at your twitter feed too intently, you might miss a growing movement in states across the country: criminal justice reform.
In the last two years, criminal justice reform has catapulted to the top of the nation’s list of priorities. Congress moved closer than ever to approving a federal sentencing overhaul to reduce the nation’s skyrocketing incarceration rate, but the clock ran down and reform didn’t get done.
It is a different story in the states.
Look no further than recent “state of the state” addresses over the last couple of weeks. Nearly twenty governors from states in all regions of the country have specifically underscored the need for advancing reforms.
From North Dakota to New York, and Arizona to Arkansas, governors on both sides of the aisle are making the case for reform, working alongside legislators and advocates to reduce incarceration and overhaul our prisons.
In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey highlighted the need for second chances. He also stressed the need to address drug addiction and treatment to ensure that formerly incarcerated people have the tools and support they need to return to living productive lives in their communities.
In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe discussed the need to address the challenges facing the mental health system. He pointed out that too many people who suffer from behavioral disorders end up in jails, where there aren’t enough resources to properly care for them. He highlighted efforts to work with the state legislature to expand mental health screenings in local and regional jails.
In the coming weeks many more governors will deliver their own state of the state addresses, and we’ll likely continue hearing the same mantra: It’s time to reform our broken criminal justice system.
This momentum reflects a strategy that will intensify in 2017: We will pursue transformational reform of the nation’s justice system state-by-state. It will be rooted in on-the-ground, bipartisan coalition building.
Reform at the federal level is now uncertain, but successes at the state level have reaffirmed that the states are ground zero for transforming the nation’s justice system.
The states own the lion’s share of the incarceration problem: Of the 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States, approximately 190,000 are held by the federal government.
Close to 90 percent of the nation’s incarcerated population are locked up in local jails and state prisons.
Voters, legislators and advocates in the states overwhelmingly support criminal justice reform, regardless of party affiliation or political leanings.
Take Oklahoma.
In a state where voters overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump for president, those same voters also overwhelmingly supported two ballot initiatives designed to reduce the state’s prison population. Oklahoma has the second highest incarceration rate in the nation, the highest for women. Two initiatives passed, overwhelmingly, to reclassify drug possession to misdemeanors instead of felonies and to raise the felony theft threshold, reducing the number of people who would have been locked up under the old system and directing the money saved to local communities to determine how best to address the root causes of crime — like treating mental health and substance abuse and providing job training and employment programs.
Success in a state like Oklahoma, where opponents are steeped in a “tough on crime” mentality, is a milestone for the larger justice reform movement.
This year, we are doubling down on our work to fight mass incarceration in all 50 states, with a particular focus on the states with the highest volume and rates of incarceration. Simultaneously, we will launch nationwide integrated advocacy campaigns that include litigation, legislation and public education to tackle some of the greatest drivers of incarceration, including the nation’s broken bail system and prosecutorial practices that drive mass incarceration and racial disparities.
Much of the nation’s focus is fixed on Washington and political controversy, grandstanding, and division, but the real story of criminal justice reform — and the real story of leadership in governing — is in the states.
Udi Ofer is the Director of the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice.
