According to the NAACP’s organization website, American prisons have seen quadruple the amount of prisoners in the system now compared to 1980 (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, 2016). Roughly 2.3 million people are incarcerated causing North America to hold roughly 25% of the world’s prisoners. President Obama and his administration for two terms have tried to address this growing incarceration through the Fair Sentencing Act. In 2015, President Obama commuted the sentences of 46 inmates who were serving time in prison for non-violent drug offenses, according to The Economist (The Economist, 2016). Recently, in 2016, President Obama has shifted his focus to banning solitary confinement in United States prisons. Prior to that, in the fall of 2015,
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Further, according to a whitehouse.gov press release, the administration has worked alongside the Federal Interagency Reentry Council and “My Brother’s Keeper Task Force” to create adult reentry education grants, arrests guidance for public and other HUD-assisted housing, “banning the box” for federal employment, expansion of tech training and jobs for those with criminal backgrounds, establishment a “National Clean Slate” clearinghouse, developed housing for the Pay for Success program, and a juvenile reentry assistance program (2015, Office of the Press Secretary). The “Ban the Box” initiative was another executive order handed down by the president. In addition, the president also issued an executive order banning the use of solitary confinement as punishment for juveniles in federal prisons. Another executive order was issued to expand background checks for those pursuing gun …show more content…
As previously mentioned, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act proposed in 2015 has not seen success as it is still heavily debated between opposing sides in congress. This act would not only reduce mandatory minimums, but it would also address overcrowding in federal prisons. This piece of legislation is one of the most recent examples of President Obama not seeing his preferred legislation passed by congress. I honestly think this has been a struggle partly because both houses in congress are on opposing political parties, causing them to have differing views on how the criminal justice system should operate. Ironically though, the bill does have support from Senate republican members according to a CNN article (Escobedo, 2015). Derek Cohen, a writer for the conservative think tank Right on Crime, suggests that there is little backlash on this particular bill because it’s more of a compromise than a left-wing agenda. Prior to this exact piece of legislation, the issue of mandatory minimums has always been a toss up between the two parties. From last week’s assignment, you’d assume that republicans who prefer a crime control model would dislike the idea of releasing prisoners into society sooner than the minimum number of years. In other words, unless the bill is a compromise from
Further, according to a whitehouse.gov press release, the administration has worked alongside the Federal Interagency Reentry Council and “My Brother’s Keeper Task Force” to create adult reentry education grants, arrests guidance for public and other HUD-assisted housing, “banning the box” for federal employment, expansion of tech training and jobs for those with criminal backgrounds, establishment a “National Clean Slate” clearinghouse, developed housing for the Pay for Success program, and a juvenile reentry assistance program (2015, Office of the Press Secretary). The “Ban the Box” initiative was another executive order handed down by the president. In addition, the president also issued an executive order banning the use of solitary confinement as punishment for juveniles in federal prisons. Another executive order was issued to expand background checks for those pursuing gun …show more content…
As previously mentioned, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act proposed in 2015 has not seen success as it is still heavily debated between opposing sides in congress. This act would not only reduce mandatory minimums, but it would also address overcrowding in federal prisons. This piece of legislation is one of the most recent examples of President Obama not seeing his preferred legislation passed by congress. I honestly think this has been a struggle partly because both houses in congress are on opposing political parties, causing them to have differing views on how the criminal justice system should operate. Ironically though, the bill does have support from Senate republican members according to a CNN article (Escobedo, 2015). Derek Cohen, a writer for the conservative think tank Right on Crime, suggests that there is little backlash on this particular bill because it’s more of a compromise than a left-wing agenda. Prior to this exact piece of legislation, the issue of mandatory minimums has always been a toss up between the two parties. From last week’s assignment, you’d assume that republicans who prefer a crime control model would dislike the idea of releasing prisoners into society sooner than the minimum number of years. In other words, unless the bill is a compromise from