Hard-liners in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ own Syriza party were in open revolt, and unions and trade associations called for extended strikes to coincide with Wednesday’s Parliament vote. On Tuesday, Obama will offer his ideas for “criminal justice reform” at the NAACP meeting in Philadelphia.
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Before Obama said he was ordering the Justice Department to review the overuse of solitary confinement in federal prisons, he used the occasion to touch on conditions some argue make rehabilitation and reentrance into society for the formerly incarcerated a less certain proposition.
The president says the good news is that Americans of all political parties are starting to realize the need for change. The administration has in part blamed its scant use of commutations, compared with other presidents, on this mass of paperwork and the criteria for applications.
In order to address the disparity and issues within the criminal justice system, Obama proposed that Congress create a bill that lowers or completely eliminates mandatory sentencing for non-violent drug crimes by the end of the year.
Those who support criminal justice reform in New Jersey said it was exciting that the president was talking about the subject at the convention.
“We ask police to go in there and do the tough job of trying to contain the hopelessness when we are not willing to make the investments to help lift those communities out of hopelessness”, Obama said.
“In far too many cases, the punishment simply does not fit the crime”, he said.
“[F]ederal sentencing practices can, in too many instances, lead nonviolent drug offenders to spend decades, if not life, in prison”.
In a letter to Jerry Bailey, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to violate laws against crack-cocaine, Obama praised Bailey for showing the potential to turn his life around.
-1 in 3 African American children are born in poverty and Congress is currently working on bipartisan efforts to reduce the “classroom to prison pipeline” system that disproportionately criminalizes young minorities at unfair rates.
The 46 sentence reductions are the most presidential commutations in a single day since at least the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, according to the White House.
While the effectiveness of clemency is questioned, as commutations don’t overturn a conviction, but only reduce a sentencing, it’s still a step forward in terms of challenging the existing mandatory minimum sentencing requirements.
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“But they’re leaving behind many equally deserving people”, she said, “so let’s keep these commutations coming, while remembering that clemency is a tool made necessary by our failure to reform mandatory minimum sentencing laws. These 46 people are lucky”, said Julie Stewart, the founder and president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Obama drew praise from the packed convention hall throughout his speech. Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., planned to give a speech Thursday in the troubled city of Camden focusing on nonviolent drug offenders. And final yr, the unbiased Sentencing Commission decreased guideline ranges for drug crimes and utilized these retroactively. In 2010, Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, slicing penalties for crack cocaine offenses. “I believe that at its heart, America is a nation of second chances, and I believe these folks deserve their second chance”.
