The criminal justice reform plan of Bernie Sanders is actually quite good

Over the weekend, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders published a complete plan to reform the criminal justice system, and for once, the Sanders campaign is perfect. For starters, the Vermont senator has clearly identified the problem in our criminal justice system: excessive incarceration and a punitive approach, not rehabilitation.

the plan "Today, the United States is imprisoning at a higher rate than any other country, largely because of extremely harsh sentencing policies." Sanders says, "We need to stop taking a too punitive approach to public safety. start focusing on ways to protect our communities, prevent conditions that lead to arrests, and rehabilitate people who have made mistakes. "

True and true.

According to Sentencing project, incarceration rates have increased by 500% over the last four decades. We are now locking up more than 2.2 million people. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. It may sound like we're just "tough on crime," but it's actually not a good thing: over-spending has resulted in massive government spending and loss of freedom for millions of people who have not hurt nobody – in addition, many experts do not think that our obsession with incarceration has even made us much safer.

That's why Sanders wants to halve the prison population. And, at least with respect to the federal offender population – only 12% of the total – is concerned, his proposal could do the deal, without jeopardizing public safety.

First, it focuses on serious reform of the sentence to try to solve the problem of over-spending at the heart of it. To do so, it eliminates the federal mandatory minimum sentences and the short-sighted laws that bind judges and limit their ability to take into account individual circumstances, imposing very heavy mandatory sentences for certain offenses. These inflexible laws often lead to punitive punishments.

And Sanders' plan would also include the cancellation of a note from the Justice Department asking prosecutors to prosecute the most severe sentences possible, and encourage states to reduce their prison staffing systems with federal grants. In addition, it adds funds for the offices of the overburdened public defender, who currently have a hard time keeping up and serving all their clients.

Sanders proposes another change, namely the elimination of the pecuniary bond, which sometimes allows the rich to free themselves while awaiting trial, while the poorest accused of the same crime indulge in prison behind bars. The elimination of this practice would help reduce the extremely high number of people incarcerated waiting for a trial.

The same would apply to the confiscation of civilian assets, a bizarre and unjust practice according to which the police seize the assets of suspected crimes, sometimes not even formally charged. In addition, it refers to the "qualified immunity" doctrine of state employees, such as police officers, who are protected from civil litigation by a vague standard, even though they may have violated the rights of the public. one person. It also aims to improve police oversight.

Of course, however, like any Sanders plan, this proposal for criminal justice reform contains a fair mix of delusional rhetoric and unrealistic ideas in Bernie-esque.

For its part, the candidate is raging against the man of "privatization" and "private prisons". Even more controversial, his proposal would restore the right to vote of all those imprisoned, allowing even rapists and child murders to vote behind bars. Let's hope that the more radical provisions of the plan will be negated even before they are adopted.

I spoke with Molly Davis, Policy Analyst at the Libertas Institute. She was optimistic about Sanders' plan, but cautious and said: "Bernie's plan is seemingly exhaustive and touches all areas, from the abolition of the death penalty to the reform of immunity qualified. Encouraging states to change methods seems fine, but the devil is hiding in the details. "

Davis added, "While reducing prisons is an excellent goal, it relies heavily on the cooperation of the legislatures of the country's states. Unfortunately, this is not a change that can be made from behind an office in Washington. "

Ciaramella of the reason called the plan "Long on ideas" and "short on details", but ultimately concluded that it was "by far the most ambitious and ambitious criminal justice plan issued by a Democratic candidate this cycle." The Proposal Sanders is really bullish and ambitious. case, it's a good thing.