Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) made a strong statement in favor of criminal justice reform. On July 16, the Speaker made clear that America has too many people incarcerated. People who do not necessarily belong there.
National leaders are becoming more vocal about the need to improve the justice system across the nation. Although the United States has one of the most extensive prison systems in the world, two thirds of released prisoners can expect to go back to jail. Speaker Boehner is right to call attention to our wasteful criminal system.
We are at a point where counting the number of federal crimes is close to impossible. Thanks to everything from draconian crimes to draconian sentencing our prison population has reached unacceptable levels. Moreover, the people who go through the system are more likely to return to prison that not. According to the speaker,
“We’ve got a lot of people in prison, frankly, that really… don’t need to be there. It’s expensive. The housed prisoners, sometimes… are in there under what I’ll call flimsy reasons.”
The SAFE Justice Act, which Speaker Boehner supported in his remarks, tackles the most pressing problems facing our courts and prisons. By focusing mandatory minimums for certain offenses on the most dangerous criminals, SAFE Justice targets police resources on the most pressing offenders. The bill also reduces federal over-criminalization, and increases the use of mens rea-in order to make sure that an individual was aware of whether his or her actions are criminal.
These measures will make our streets safer, and our budgets smaller.
Americans for Tax Reform is committed to seeing a smaller, more effective government in all its forms. Leaders in Congress should apply the principles in the SAFE Justice Act to reign in the excesses of our criminal Justice system. Speaker Boehner took an important step today.