Obama calls for shorter sentences for nonviolent convicts
For non-violent drug crimes, we need to lower long mandatory minimum sentences -- or get rid of them entirely
The Washington Post (US)
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Calling it an issue America can’t afford to ignore, President Barack Obama laid out an expansive vision for fixing the criminal justice system. “In far too many cases, the punishment simply doesn’t fit the crime,” Obama told a crowd of 3,300 in Philadelphia. Low-level drug dealers, for example, owe a debt to society, but not a life sentence or 20-year prison term, he said. The United States needed to reevaluate an “aspect of American life that remains particularly skewed by race and by wealth.” Working in Obama’s favor: tentative but optimistic signs of common ground between Republicans and Democrats. (See also: President Obama for the prisoners)
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