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Home > Is the Fight to End Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
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Is the Fight to End Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
By James Kilgore [1] / AlterNet [2]
August 8, 2016
Mass incarceration's profile as a national issue appears to be on the wane.
Throughout 2015, the nation's over-reliance on imprisonment drew a constant
spotlight, producing a plethora of bipartisan policy proposals and
expressions of moral outrage in Beltway circles. In March last year, Newt
Gingrich and Democrat stalwart Van Jones co-hosted [3] an unprecedented
Washington, D.C. conference [4] of nearly 500 key role players billed as a
"Bipartisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform." The Koch Brothers Foundation
teamed up with George Soros' Open Society forces to sponsor it. Author and
formerly incarcerated activist Shaka Senghor spoke, as did Georgia's
Republican governor Nathan Deal. At a moment of great congressional discord,
people across the spectrum were finally agreeing on at least one thing: the
U.S. was spending too much money on corrections and locking up too many
people, especially black folks.
Activists added to the hype, pressuring presidential candidates in the early
stages of the campaign. Movement for Black Lives leaders stressed the issue
of mass incarceration in a widely shared conversation [5] with Hillary
Clinton. Black Lives Matter spokespeople interrupted Bernie Sanders'
speeches on two occasions, leading Sanders to add criminal justice reform to
his talking points and to insert "racial justice" into his list of
priorities. At the Senate level, Republican hopeful Rand Paul was
co-sponsoring sentencing reform legislation [6] with Cory Booker.
To top it off, President Obama visited [7] a federal prison, and then
released some 6,000 people from federal institutions in November. The Pope
added fuel to the reform fire by dropping in [8] on a Pennsylvania facility.
The condemnation of mass incarceration and a new spirit of offering people
with felony convictions a second chance was flowing from all quarters.
Yet as the presidential campaign heated up, mass incarceration began to fade
from the scene. The bully in the presidential campaign playground, Donald
Trump, contributed immensely to the change in climate. Posturing as the "law
and order" candidate, Trump has stifled Republican reform discourse. At the
Republican National Convention, he summed up his overall approach to
criminal justice with one militant declaration [9]: "The crime and violence
that today afflicts our nation will soon-and I mean very soon-come to an
end. Beginning on January 20, 2017, safety will be restored."
With Trump's rise, foot soldiers promising to "make America safe again" have
come out of the woodwork to replace the bipartisan unity advocates.
Milwaukee county sheriff David Clarke has become a one-man speaker's bureau
for renewed war on the streets. Wearing full dress uniform regalia, he
opened his address to the RNC with a vow [10] to make something "very
clear": "Blue lives matter in America." Clarke went on to label Black Lives
Matter and Occupy as forces of "social disorder" and "anarchy." Clarke
represents a growing police backlash trumpeting the myth of a reborn crime
wave in the U.S. Both statistics and opinion poll findings provide at best
minimal support for such claims. While violent crime rates did increase
slightly [11] in 2015, they have steadily declined during Obama's years in
office and are at much lower levels [12] than in the early 1990s.
Moreover, Republican law-and-order fervor doesn't reflect popular
sentiments. Recent Gallup polls do show [13] an increasing concern about
crime and violence, but a July 13 survey [14] revealed that only 6 percent
of the population identified crime as the most important problem facing the
country today. By comparison, 27 percent named "economic problems" as the
number one priority. Ultimately, the resurgence of the law and order mantra
may be less about about facts and figures and more about fanning the flames
of fear, racism and xenophobia.
Whatever hope existed for promoting bipartisan unity on criminal justice at
the RNC was in the end derailed by the committee of 112 tasked with
finalizing the party platform [15]. The 112 focused on condemning the
Supreme Court for not opening the door to wider application of the death
penalty and accused Attorney General Loretta Lynch of conducting a "campaign
of harassment against police forces around the country." While supporting
some jail diversion programs like Drug Courts, their top priority for
prisons was not closure or budget cuts, but making sure authorities "regain
control of their correctional institutions, some of which have become ethnic
and racial battlegrounds."
Joining Trump and Clarke in leading the law and order charge was Newt
Gingrich. Getting a whiff of a chance at the vice-presidential slot, Newt
dropped reform talk and devoted his speech at the RNC [16] to hymns of
praise for Trump and condemning "radical Islamic terrorists." In light of
all of this along with "the centrality of Nixonian law and order" to Trump's
electoral vision, emeritus criminology professor Tony Platt told AlterNet,
"it's unclear right now if the campaign for modest federal reforms will
continue."
The Democrats
In contrast to the Republican about-face, the Democratic Convention opted
for toning down their positions. While they brought the mothers of black
people slain by police on stage, the calls in the platform to end mass
incarceration, reform mandatory minimums and close private prisons (largely
a product of the influence of the Bernie Sanders campaign) gained little air
time compared to xenophobic patriotic appeals. In Clinton's acceptance
speech, the need to "reform our criminal justice system from end to end" was
a throwaway, buried in a lengthy laundry list of promises on all issues. At
the moment of realpolitik, ending mass incarceration has perhaps lost any
capacity to attract new voters, especially whites who may be vacillating in
their support for Trump.
Changes in Federal Laws
Election related party polarization has likely contributed to the lack of
progress [17] in advancing national legislation and policy change as well.
The much-publicized Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act [18], jointly
sponsored by a bipartisan cohort led by Republican Chuck Grassley and
Democrat Cory Booker, has failed to make it to the congressional floor for a
vote. The bill remains mired in disagreements over the depth and nature of
acceptable change.
Another high-profile reform, the opening of presidential clemency petitions,
has also made little progress. Obama's decision to open the door to federal
clemency petitions prompted more than 12,000 applications. However, to date
only 562 [19] have been granted [20]. The lack of administrative resources
to review the often complicated documents means the bulk of those remaining
may be rolled over to the next presidency. Moreover, Obama rejected the more
powerful option of applying a blanket amnesty to certain categories of
convictions like the notoriously anti-black [21] crack cocaine laws. In the
1970s, Presidents Ford and Carter applied blanket amnesties to those who
dodged the draft.
A final glitch in the reform process has hit the realm of immigration. While
the president made major advances with the DACA and DAPA [22] measures to
delay deportations, in 2016 things have taken a serious turn for the worse.
A June Supreme Court decision [23] virtually overturned DAPA, thus putting
another five million undocumented adults back onto the hit list for possible
deportation.
To make matters worse, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has begun a new
offense of roundups. From across the country, reports [24] have emerged of
ICE agents showing up at unexpected places-courthouses, probation offices,
workplaces-to drag away those without proper papers. Investigative
journalist Brian Dolinar, who covers these issues in the Midwest, reports to
AlterNet that there have been more than 50 ICE raids alone in
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, a liberal college town of 120,000. He adds that
such raids are "taking place all over the country, not just along the
border, but they are happening under the radar with little or no media
coverage."
The Brighter Side
While at the federal level things may have slowed, a few important changes
continue to take place where it really matters: at the state and local
levels. Although the federal policies and debates attract the most media
attention, state prisons and county jails hold nearly 90 percent of those
incarcerated. Ultimately, most reforms at the federal level have little
impact on states and counties, save to set an example of possible changes.
The most noteworthy advances have been the slashing prison populations in
key states. New York, New Jersey, California and Rhode Island have reduced
[25] their prison populations by more than 20 percent in the last seven
years. The decarceration formula has varied. New York's reductions were
largely driven by a cutback in drug prosecutions, while California's
decrease came about as a result of a federal court order. But these states
are not alone. In 2014, Mississippi, using a combination of sentencing and
parole reform, reduced its prison population by 14.5 percent in one year.
Moreover, since 2000, at least 29 states have passed [26] laws to reduce
mandatory minimums. More than 30 such measures have been signed into law in
the past six years. Despite the slow advance of national legislation, the
federal prison population finally began to show a decline on 2013 after more
than 35 years of growth. Obama's November 2015 release contributed to a fall
in federal prison populations of 16,000 (about 8 percent) in the last 19
months.
Outside the legislative sphere, national efforts via a number of
non-government initiatives have kept things moving. These have included
longstanding campaigns like Ban the Box [27], initiated largely by
organizations of formerly incarcerated people like All of Us or None [28]
and efforts by the National Juvenile Justice Network to end juvenile life
sentences without parole. New initiatives and organizations continue to
appear with groups like the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly
Incarcerated Women [29] focusing on the much-neglected 700 [30]percent [30]
expansion of the population in women's prisons over the last two and a half
decades.
Foundations and professional organizations have stepped in to fund reform as
well. The Annie E. Casey foundation is supporting alternatives to
incarceration [31] for juveniles, and the Pre-Trial Institute is
coordinating efforts to restructure pre-trial regimes, especially in regard
to cash bail. Efforts to restructure local criminal justice practice aimed
at reducing prison and jail populations have drawn tens of millions in
support from the ACLU [32] and the Macarthur Foundation [33].
Yet while these pockets of change and funding flows hold out promise, the
total decrease [34] in prison population nationally from 2009 to 2014 was
only about 52,000-just over 2 percent. Ultimately, to totally reverse the
forces of mass incarceration requires not only legislative change and
finance, but the presence of a coordinated and focused mass social movement.
The roots of such a movement have appeared over the past two years in the
mobilizations in response police killings of black people. Elements of the
youthful supporters of Bernie Sanders' "political revolution" also represent
such a potential force, though it remains to be seen what direction they
will take post Hillary's nomination.
Some activists argue that these efforts, especially those focused on police
killings, need to broaden their scope to a more systemic perspective or run
the risk of being confined to limited reforms such as body cams, community
review board initiatives, or racial awareness training. The failure to
successfully prosecute Darren Wilson in Ferguson and the perpetrators in the
Freddie Gray case highlights the obstacles to investing too much faith in
existing political processes. Gus Wood, an Illinois-based activist and PhD
candidate, has studied policing extensively. He told AlterNet that "as we
attempt to transform this current moment to an actual social movement, we
must incorporate a systemic racial class analysis so that we can attack the
various forms of racial oppression, like wage/income disparity,
hypersegregation/apartheid, state-sponsored violence, imperialism, and mass
incarceration. Our resistance must match the complexity of our oppression."
"A Vision for Black Lives," a set of policy documents [35] released August 1
by the Movement for Black Lives reflects the kinds of systemic thinking
highlighted by Wood. The expanded directions put forward by the "Movement"
take protest against police violence well beyond minor tweakings of police
practice and attitudes. Situating police violence in the context of the
historical and global oppression of black people, these documents call for
reparations, international solidarity and economic justice while remaining
true to the prioritization of leadership of queer and transgender people.
More than 50 organizations, including Black Lives Matter Network, took part
in formulating the contents.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, echoed such sentiments in
responding to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In a recent
Facebook posting, she declared: "I no longer believe that we can 'fix' the
police, as though the police are anything other than a mirror reflecting
back to us the true nature of our democracy. We cannot 'fix' the police
without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of
our society. There's an unfinished revolution waiting to be won."
Ultimately, the momentum for criminal justice reform, let alone the type
transformative change needed to reverse mass incarceration, remains far from
achieving the intensity of the conservative "lock 'em up and throw away the
key" mania that grew the system in the 1980s and '90s. As we draw nearer to
election day, concerns about excessive imprisonment and bloated corrections
budgets are likely to fade further into the shadows behind political
candidates' efforts to malign their opponents' character and cast themselves
as the true patriots. That unfinished revolution of which Michelle Alexander
speaks still waits to be won.
James Kilgore is an activist, writer and educator based in Urbana, IL. His
most recent book is Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to
the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time [36] (New Press, 2015). He is also
the author of three published novels, all of which he drafted during his six
and a half years in prison. He can be found on Twitter @waazn1 [37].
Share on Facebook Share
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [38]
[39]
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/fight-end-mass-incarceration-wasting
-away-washington
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/james-kilgore
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/video/2014/bipartisan-discussion-on-c
riminal-justice-reform-with-newt-gingrich-and-van-jones
[4]
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/26/opinions/van-jones-bipartisan-prison-reform/
[5]
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/08/hillary-clinton-black-lives-matter
[6]
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/booker_and_paul_re-introduce_le
gislation_to_overha.html
[7]
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obamas-historic-prison-visit-
32503409
[8]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/inside-the-philadelphia-priso
n-that-will-host-pope-francis-on-sunday/2015/09/26/25024fae-5bca-11e5-9757-e
49273f05f65_story.html
[9]
http://www.npr.org/2016/07/21/486940891/trump-to-promise-safety-will-be-rest
ored-as-he-accepts-gop-nomination
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVuIhnyggUg
[11] https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/preliminary-2015-crime-stats-released
[12]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/06/08/theres-no-eviden
ce-of-a-new-nationwide-crime-wave/?tid=a_inl
[13]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/190475/americans-concern-crime-climbs-year-high.a
spx
[14] http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx
[15] https://www.gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform/
[16]
http://www.politico.com/video/2016/07/newt-gingrich-full-speech-at-the-rnc-0
60021
[17]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/holding-sentencing-reform-h
ostage.html
[18] http://famm.org/sentencing-reform-and-corrections-act-of-2015/
[19]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/08/03/president-obama-commutes-sentence
s-214-additional-people
[20]
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-hasnt-obamas-clemency-initiative
-helped-more-nonviolent-drug-offenders
[21] http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war
[22] https://www.nilc.org/issues/daca/dapa-and-expanded-daca-programs/
[23]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/supreme-court-immigration-obama-dapa.ht
ml?_r=0
[24]
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34814-despite-stated-aims-obama-s-new-ice
-policy-targets-immigrants-for-minor-offenses
[25]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&a
mp;cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiR94iSwJrOAhUHzIMKHRnQCQgQFgge
MAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vera.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fresources
%2Fdownloads%2Fmandatory-sentences-policy-report-v2b.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGZsze
hvXApJjB0fKs5u8pDkpuasg&sig2=VaB8qz9QLx9-MrgKAzbdTw
[26]
http://archive.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/mandatory-se
ntences-policy-report-summary-v3.pdf
[27]
http://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-the-box-fair-chance-hiring-state-and-loc
al-guide/
[28] http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/our-projects/allofus-or-none/
[29]
http://justiceashealing.org/national-council-for-incarcerated-and-formerly-i
ncarcerated-women/
[30]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&a
mp;cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwjqpPW0x5rOAhVn3IMKHbrmCYIQFggkMAE&url=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.sentencingproject.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F02%2FIncarcerate
d-Women-and-Girls.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9Zh24Gf1MsKVOVKEcNa7EAcB0DA&sig2=Px
UnaK667-FeMiAaBobeow&cad=rja
[31] http://www.aecf.org/work/juvenile-justice/
[32]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/us/aclu-in-dollar50-million-push-to-reduce
-jail-sentences.html
[33]
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/13/macarthur-announces-25m-in-grant-i
nitiatives-for-local-prison-reform/
[34] http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5387
[35] https://policy.m4bl.org/platform/
[36] http://thenewpress.com/books/understanding-mass-incarceration
[37] https://twitter.com/waazn1?lang=en
[38] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Is the Fight to End
Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
[39] http://www.alternet.org/
[40] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Is the Fight to End Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
Is the Fight to End Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
By James Kilgore [1] / AlterNet [2]
August 8, 2016
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Mass incarceration's profile as a national issue appears to be on the wane.
Throughout 2015, the nation's over-reliance on imprisonment drew a constant
spotlight, producing a plethora of bipartisan policy proposals and
expressions of moral outrage in Beltway circles. In March last year, Newt
Gingrich and Democrat stalwart Van Jones co-hosted [3] an unprecedented
Washington, D.C. conference [4] of nearly 500 key role players billed as a
"Bipartisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform." The Koch Brothers Foundation
teamed up with George Soros' Open Society forces to sponsor it. Author and
formerly incarcerated activist Shaka Senghor spoke, as did Georgia's
Republican governor Nathan Deal. At a moment of great congressional discord,
people across the spectrum were finally agreeing on at least one thing: the
U.S. was spending too much money on corrections and locking up too many
people, especially black folks.
Activists added to the hype, pressuring presidential candidates in the early
stages of the campaign. Movement for Black Lives leaders stressed the issue
of mass incarceration in a widely shared conversation [5] with Hillary
Clinton. Black Lives Matter spokespeople interrupted Bernie Sanders'
speeches on two occasions, leading Sanders to add criminal justice reform to
his talking points and to insert "racial justice" into his list of
priorities. At the Senate level, Republican hopeful Rand Paul was
co-sponsoring sentencing reform legislation [6] with Cory Booker.
To top it off, President Obama visited [7] a federal prison, and then
released some 6,000 people from federal institutions in November. The Pope
added fuel to the reform fire by dropping in [8] on a Pennsylvania facility.
The condemnation of mass incarceration and a new spirit of offering people
with felony convictions a second chance was flowing from all quarters.
Yet as the presidential campaign heated up, mass incarceration began to fade
from the scene. The bully in the presidential campaign playground, Donald
Trump, contributed immensely to the change in climate. Posturing as the "law
and order" candidate, Trump has stifled Republican reform discourse. At the
Republican National Convention, he summed up his overall approach to
criminal justice with one militant declaration [9]: "The crime and violence
that today afflicts our nation will soon-and I mean very soon-come to an
end. Beginning on January 20, 2017, safety will be restored."
With Trump's rise, foot soldiers promising to "make America safe again" have
come out of the woodwork to replace the bipartisan unity advocates.
Milwaukee county sheriff David Clarke has become a one-man speaker's bureau
for renewed war on the streets. Wearing full dress uniform regalia, he
opened his address to the RNC with a vow [10] to make something "very
clear": "Blue lives matter in America." Clarke went on to label Black Lives
Matter and Occupy as forces of "social disorder" and "anarchy." Clarke
represents a growing police backlash trumpeting the myth of a reborn crime
wave in the U.S. Both statistics and opinion poll findings provide at best
minimal support for such claims. While violent crime rates did increase
slightly [11] in 2015, they have steadily declined during Obama's years in
office and are at much lower levels [12] than in the early 1990s.
Moreover, Republican law-and-order fervor doesn't reflect popular
sentiments. Recent Gallup polls do show [13] an increasing concern about
crime and violence, but a July 13 survey [14] revealed that only 6 percent
of the population identified crime as the most important problem facing the
country today. By comparison, 27 percent named "economic problems" as the
number one priority. Ultimately, the resurgence of the law and order mantra
may be less about about facts and figures and more about fanning the flames
of fear, racism and xenophobia.
Whatever hope existed for promoting bipartisan unity on criminal justice at
the RNC was in the end derailed by the committee of 112 tasked with
finalizing the party platform [15]. The 112 focused on condemning the
Supreme Court for not opening the door to wider application of the death
penalty and accused Attorney General Loretta Lynch of conducting a "campaign
of harassment against police forces around the country." While supporting
some jail diversion programs like Drug Courts, their top priority for
prisons was not closure or budget cuts, but making sure authorities "regain
control of their correctional institutions, some of which have become ethnic
and racial battlegrounds."
Joining Trump and Clarke in leading the law and order charge was Newt
Gingrich. Getting a whiff of a chance at the vice-presidential slot, Newt
dropped reform talk and devoted his speech at the RNC [16] to hymns of
praise for Trump and condemning "radical Islamic terrorists." In light of
all of this along with "the centrality of Nixonian law and order" to Trump's
electoral vision, emeritus criminology professor Tony Platt told AlterNet,
"it's unclear right now if the campaign for modest federal reforms will
continue."
The Democrats
In contrast to the Republican about-face, the Democratic Convention opted
for toning down their positions. While they brought the mothers of black
people slain by police on stage, the calls in the platform to end mass
incarceration, reform mandatory minimums and close private prisons (largely
a product of the influence of the Bernie Sanders campaign) gained little air
time compared to xenophobic patriotic appeals. In Clinton's acceptance
speech, the need to "reform our criminal justice system from end to end" was
a throwaway, buried in a lengthy laundry list of promises on all issues. At
the moment of realpolitik, ending mass incarceration has perhaps lost any
capacity to attract new voters, especially whites who may be vacillating in
their support for Trump.
Changes in Federal Laws
Election related party polarization has likely contributed to the lack of
progress [17] in advancing national legislation and policy change as well.
The much-publicized Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act [18], jointly
sponsored by a bipartisan cohort led by Republican Chuck Grassley and
Democrat Cory Booker, has failed to make it to the congressional floor for a
vote. The bill remains mired in disagreements over the depth and nature of
acceptable change.
Another high-profile reform, the opening of presidential clemency petitions,
has also made little progress. Obama's decision to open the door to federal
clemency petitions prompted more than 12,000 applications. However, to date
only 562 [19] have been granted [20]. The lack of administrative resources
to review the often complicated documents means the bulk of those remaining
may be rolled over to the next presidency. Moreover, Obama rejected the more
powerful option of applying a blanket amnesty to certain categories of
convictions like the notoriously anti-black [21] crack cocaine laws. In the
1970s, Presidents Ford and Carter applied blanket amnesties to those who
dodged the draft.
A final glitch in the reform process has hit the realm of immigration. While
the president made major advances with the DACA and DAPA [22] measures to
delay deportations, in 2016 things have taken a serious turn for the worse.
A June Supreme Court decision [23] virtually overturned DAPA, thus putting
another five million undocumented adults back onto the hit list for possible
deportation.
To make matters worse, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has begun a new
offense of roundups. From across the country, reports [24] have emerged of
ICE agents showing up at unexpected places-courthouses, probation offices,
workplaces-to drag away those without proper papers. Investigative
journalist Brian Dolinar, who covers these issues in the Midwest, reports to
AlterNet that there have been more than 50 ICE raids alone in
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, a liberal college town of 120,000. He adds that
such raids are "taking place all over the country, not just along the
border, but they are happening under the radar with little or no media
coverage."
The Brighter Side
While at the federal level things may have slowed, a few important changes
continue to take place where it really matters: at the state and local
levels. Although the federal policies and debates attract the most media
attention, state prisons and county jails hold nearly 90 percent of those
incarcerated. Ultimately, most reforms at the federal level have little
impact on states and counties, save to set an example of possible changes.
The most noteworthy advances have been the slashing prison populations in
key states. New York, New Jersey, California and Rhode Island have reduced
[25] their prison populations by more than 20 percent in the last seven
years. The decarceration formula has varied. New York's reductions were
largely driven by a cutback in drug prosecutions, while California's
decrease came about as a result of a federal court order. But these states
are not alone. In 2014, Mississippi, using a combination of sentencing and
parole reform, reduced its prison population by 14.5 percent in one year.
Moreover, since 2000, at least 29 states have passed [26] laws to reduce
mandatory minimums. More than 30 such measures have been signed into law in
the past six years. Despite the slow advance of national legislation, the
federal prison population finally began to show a decline on 2013 after more
than 35 years of growth. Obama's November 2015 release contributed to a fall
in federal prison populations of 16,000 (about 8 percent) in the last 19
months.
Outside the legislative sphere, national efforts via a number of
non-government initiatives have kept things moving. These have included
longstanding campaigns like Ban the Box [27], initiated largely by
organizations of formerly incarcerated people like All of Us or None [28]
and efforts by the National Juvenile Justice Network to end juvenile life
sentences without parole. New initiatives and organizations continue to
appear with groups like the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly
Incarcerated Women [29] focusing on the much-neglected 700 [30]percent [30]
expansion of the population in women's prisons over the last two and a half
decades.
Foundations and professional organizations have stepped in to fund reform as
well. The Annie E. Casey foundation is supporting alternatives to
incarceration [31] for juveniles, and the Pre-Trial Institute is
coordinating efforts to restructure pre-trial regimes, especially in regard
to cash bail. Efforts to restructure local criminal justice practice aimed
at reducing prison and jail populations have drawn tens of millions in
support from the ACLU [32] and the Macarthur Foundation [33].
Yet while these pockets of change and funding flows hold out promise, the
total decrease [34] in prison population nationally from 2009 to 2014 was
only about 52,000-just over 2 percent. Ultimately, to totally reverse the
forces of mass incarceration requires not only legislative change and
finance, but the presence of a coordinated and focused mass social movement.
The roots of such a movement have appeared over the past two years in the
mobilizations in response police killings of black people. Elements of the
youthful supporters of Bernie Sanders' "political revolution" also represent
such a potential force, though it remains to be seen what direction they
will take post Hillary's nomination.
Some activists argue that these efforts, especially those focused on police
killings, need to broaden their scope to a more systemic perspective or run
the risk of being confined to limited reforms such as body cams, community
review board initiatives, or racial awareness training. The failure to
successfully prosecute Darren Wilson in Ferguson and the perpetrators in the
Freddie Gray case highlights the obstacles to investing too much faith in
existing political processes. Gus Wood, an Illinois-based activist and PhD
candidate, has studied policing extensively. He told AlterNet that "as we
attempt to transform this current moment to an actual social movement, we
must incorporate a systemic racial class analysis so that we can attack the
various forms of racial oppression, like wage/income disparity,
hypersegregation/apartheid, state-sponsored violence, imperialism, and mass
incarceration. Our resistance must match the complexity of our oppression."
"A Vision for Black Lives," a set of policy documents [35] released August 1
by the Movement for Black Lives reflects the kinds of systemic thinking
highlighted by Wood. The expanded directions put forward by the "Movement"
take protest against police violence well beyond minor tweakings of police
practice and attitudes. Situating police violence in the context of the
historical and global oppression of black people, these documents call for
reparations, international solidarity and economic justice while remaining
true to the prioritization of leadership of queer and transgender people.
More than 50 organizations, including Black Lives Matter Network, took part
in formulating the contents.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, echoed such sentiments in
responding to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In a recent
Facebook posting, she declared: "I no longer believe that we can 'fix' the
police, as though the police are anything other than a mirror reflecting
back to us the true nature of our democracy. We cannot 'fix' the police
without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of
our society. There's an unfinished revolution waiting to be won."
Ultimately, the momentum for criminal justice reform, let alone the type
transformative change needed to reverse mass incarceration, remains far from
achieving the intensity of the conservative "lock 'em up and throw away the
key" mania that grew the system in the 1980s and '90s. As we draw nearer to
election day, concerns about excessive imprisonment and bloated corrections
budgets are likely to fade further into the shadows behind political
candidates' efforts to malign their opponents' character and cast themselves
as the true patriots. That unfinished revolution of which Michelle Alexander
speaks still waits to be won.
James Kilgore is an activist, writer and educator based in Urbana, IL. His
most recent book is Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to
the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time [36] (New Press, 2015). He is also
the author of three published novels, all of which he drafted during his six
and a half years in prison. He can be found on Twitter @waazn1 [37].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [38]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[39]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/fight-end-mass-incarceration-wasting
-away-washington
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/james-kilgore
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/video/2014/bipartisan-discussion-on-c
riminal-justice-reform-with-newt-gingrich-and-van-jones
[4]
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/26/opinions/van-jones-bipartisan-prison-reform/
[5]
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/08/hillary-clinton-black-lives-matter
[6]
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/booker_and_paul_re-introduce_le
gislation_to_overha.html
[7]
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obamas-historic-prison-visit-
32503409
[8]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/inside-the-philadelphia-priso
n-that-will-host-pope-francis-on-sunday/2015/09/26/25024fae-5bca-11e5-9757-e
49273f05f65_story.html
[9]
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ored-as-he-accepts-gop-nomination
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVuIhnyggUg
[11] https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/preliminary-2015-crime-stats-released
[12]
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ce-of-a-new-nationwide-crime-wave/?tid=a_inl
[13]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/190475/americans-concern-crime-climbs-year-high.a
spx
[14] http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx
[15] https://www.gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform/
[16]
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60021
[17]
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ostage.html
[18] http://famm.org/sentencing-reform-and-corrections-act-of-2015/
[19]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/08/03/president-obama-commutes-sentence
s-214-additional-people
[20]
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-helped-more-nonviolent-drug-offenders
[21] http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war
[22] https://www.nilc.org/issues/daca/dapa-and-expanded-daca-programs/
[23]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/supreme-court-immigration-obama-dapa.ht
ml?_r=0
[24]
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34814-despite-stated-aims-obama-s-new-ice
-policy-targets-immigrants-for-minor-offenses
[25]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&a
mp;cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiR94iSwJrOAhUHzIMKHRnQCQgQFgge
MAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vera.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fresources
%2Fdownloads%2Fmandatory-sentences-policy-report-v2b.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGZsze
hvXApJjB0fKs5u8pDkpuasg&sig2=VaB8qz9QLx9-MrgKAzbdTw
[26]
http://archive.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/mandatory-se
ntences-policy-report-summary-v3.pdf
[27]
http://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-the-box-fair-chance-hiring-state-and-loc
al-guide/
[28] http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/our-projects/allofus-or-none/
[29]
http://justiceashealing.org/national-council-for-incarcerated-and-formerly-i
ncarcerated-women/
[30]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&a
mp;cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwjqpPW0x5rOAhVn3IMKHbrmCYIQFggkMAE&url=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.sentencingproject.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F02%2FIncarcerate
d-Women-and-Girls.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9Zh24Gf1MsKVOVKEcNa7EAcB0DA&sig2=Px
UnaK667-FeMiAaBobeow&cad=rja
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[32]
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-jail-sentences.html
[33]
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/13/macarthur-announces-25m-in-grant-i
nitiatives-for-local-prison-reform/
[34] http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5387
[35] https://policy.m4bl.org/platform/
[36] http://thenewpress.com/books/understanding-mass-incarceration
[37] https://twitter.com/waazn1?lang=en
[38] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Is the Fight to End
Mass Incarceration Wasting Away in Washington?
[39] http://www.alternet.org/
[40] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
