Written by Criminal justice reform. It’s a fantastic catch phrase that appeals to a lot of people. When your nation leads the world in nothing but per capita incarceration, citizens killed by police, and military spending, it can become quite difficult to call yourself the land of the free. So taking a look at the systemic incarceration of millions of people, seems like a thing worth doing.
So perhaps, like me, you were very interested to hear what President Obama had to say on the subject today. The President joined a White House forum led by Bill Keller, editor in chief of the Marshall Project, a nonprofit online journalism organization that focuses on criminal justice issues in the U.S.
Unfortunately I was unsurprised to find myself in disagreement with the President as usual. The myriad of policy proposals, such as tinkering with the war on drugs instead of ending it, and putting violent criminals back into society sooner, were bad enough. Worse than that though, the event also brought with it a familiar ideological bent that is incredibly destructive.