Thank you senator Webb for calling for nationwide prison reform! Thanks NYT for the editorial!

[mucifer]

Editorial
Sen. Webb’s Call for Prison Reform


Published: December 31, 2008

This country puts too many people behind bars for too long. Most elected officials, afraid of being tarred as soft on crime, ignore these problems. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia, is now courageously stepping into the void, calling for a national commission to re-assess criminal justice policy. Other members of Congress should show the same courage and rally to the cause.

The United States has the world’s highest reported incarceration rate. Although it has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it has almost one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. And for the first time in history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars.

Many inmates are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes, including minor drug offenses. It also is extraordinarily expensive. Billions of dollars now being spent on prisons each year could be used in far more socially productive ways.

Senator Webb — a former Marine and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration — is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform. But his background makes him an especially effective advocate for a cause that has often been associated with liberals and academics.

In his two years in the Senate, Mr. Webb has held hearings on the cost of mass incarceration and on the criminal justice system’s response to the problems of illegal drugs. He also has called attention to the challenges of prisoner re-entry and of the need to provide released inmates, who have paid their debts to society, more help getting jobs and resuming productive lives...snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/opinion/01thu3.html?_r=1&hp

[hedgehog]

1. I have despaired of any progress in this area because what politician will

run on a platform of prison reform? If Senator Webb follows through, he will be one of our greatest senators!

[mucifer]

3. Bill Clinton moved the issue backwards. It was very disappointing.

I think Webb has some influence with Obama. I'm hopeful for now.

[roguevalley]

16. conditions need to change and programs must improve. these people get out.

we have to make recidivism a thing of the past. i wish him well. Totally.

[cbc5g]

2. Sen. Webb has guts and I'm proud to have him as Senator from Virginia

We are sooo lucky that the fool George Allen was booted out.


Prison/Drug reform is desperately needed and Webb will hopefully have a partner for reform in the White House as well.

[stillcool]

4. That seems ballsy to me...

going up against the likes of Wackenhut can not be an easy thing to do.

[mucifer]

5. true but being a former marine, it will be harder for the right wing to paint him as

a soft bleeding heart liberal. He also comes across on tv as a powerful fighter and not like some Harry Reid type.

[stillcool]

8. I'm not thinking about the right wing...

politicians, I'm thinking about global security companies that make mega-bucks out of prison systems across the globe, as well as guard our nuclear power plants and other sensitive sites. Prison labor is a huge business, and many corporations take advantage of that cheap labor. I think the Justice System is the tip of the iceberg on this, and what lies beneath is massive amounts of money.

[bertman]

10. It didn't slow the Repuke bastards down one bit with Murtha or Cleland. Just sayin'.

This is an important issue. Bless you, Jim Webb.

[90-percent]

6. This

This speaks directly to the class wars going on right now under our noses.

"They" are real happy putting "us" away in record numbers for every little chickenshit thing you can think of, but........

when "They" commit War Crimes, engage in racketeering, fascism, corporate cronyism, torture, corruption and on and on they get a free pass.

We have criminals running this country that are in collusion and are really, totally, and without a doubt ABOVE THE LAW.

Wasn't our country founded on principals that no man is above the law?

Sheesh!

-90% jimmy

[ismnotwasm]

7. My daughter just started training as a correction officer

What she's telling me is that because of the economy, there are going to HAVE to start letting lesser offenders out, possibly (hopefully) revise certain drug laws, get rid of the 3 strikes law (Washington State) and other counter-productive and useless measures we use to keep people locked up unnecessarily.


On the other hand, budget cuts are going to hit prison's hard, so this article is very timely, because prisoners are a throw away culture, one that nobody wants to think about. And what we don't think about, we forget.

[davefromqueens]

9. Concur

Our criminal justice system at times is often a joke with people in jail who shouldn't be and people not in jail who should be.

There is racism, privilege, and two standards of justice all throughout the country. Reform is needed.

[progressoid]

11. "is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform"

WTF? Why is he unlikely? Because he was a marine?

[mucifer]

12. Yeah ugly stereotypes. But, I'm just happy this is a big editorial in the NYT. Lots of

people will read it.

[Captain Hilts]

13. People think Marines aren't human. They are. nt

[kaygore]

14. Prisons just cost society too much $$$. We can't afford them any more.

Non-violent criminals need to perform community service and go into drug rehab if appropriate. We need rehab and education and job training for violent criminals to reduce recidivism. Our approach to corrections and prison is insane! We imprison a greater percentage of our population than any other country and prisons is our greatest growth industry!!!! Need we say any more about the United States of America than this!

I am so proud that Jim Webb is the senior senator from Virginia!

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. A real progressive. Particularly since so many are relatively innocent,

while powerful, white-collar recidivists, living the life of Reilly off the back of the tax-payers, seem to proliferate apace.