Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

REFORMING

 

AMERICA’S

 

CRIMINAL

 

JUSTICE

 

SYSTEM

 

Refocusing on Delivering Results, Aligning with Our Values, and Reducing the

 

 Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

2

R 

EFORMING

A

MERICA

’

S

C

RIMINAL

J

USTICE

S

YSTEM

: R 

EFOCUSING ON

D

ELIVERING

R 

ESULTS

,

 

A

LIGNING WITH OUR

V

ALUES

,

 AND

R 

EDUCING THE

B

URDEN ON

T

AXPAYERS

 I

NTRODUCTION

 

One of the biggest wastes of taxpayer dollars in our society today can be found in a criminal justice system in serious need of reform. As mayor of Newark, I have watched as my police arrest, re-arrest, and then re-arrest again, sending the same person for another trip through a revolving door system that not only largely fails to rehabilitate, but too often makes reoffending commonplace and most definitely is not helping to make our communities safer. The many problems in the criminal justice system have not defeated our efforts in Newark

 — 

 while there is much work left to do, since my Administration began its work with the Newark community, murders are down 17 percent, shootings are down 27 percent, rapes are down 38 percent, aggravated assaults are down 12 percent, thefts are down 11 percent, and auto thefts are down 26 percent. But that progress has been won with the wind in our face and does not account for the thousands of lives negatively impacted by backward policies in our criminal justice system. It is clear from what we have seen in Newark, and in cities across the country, that we can do better. That we can create a system that makes our communities safer and spends significantly fewer taxpayer dollars to deliver that safety; A system that does not waste the potential and productivity of so many of our citizens and better reflects our values, treating every American justly; A system that brings together communities and law enforcement and that restores the strength of families, stopping, rather than  perpetuating, the intergenerational cycle of incarceration. That is not happening now. We waste massive amounts of money on strategies that make our communities less, not more, safe. We squander human potential. We emphasize punishment over rehabilitation for low-level, non-violent crimes. We have created a system that fosters disparate racial and socio-economic impacts. Even more disturbing

are the impacts on inmates’ children. Not only do they lose their incarcerated parent’s income and other direct support, but innocent children who

have one or  both of their parents in prison also suffer trauma, social stigma, and destruction of their familial relationships. In fact, a national, longitudinal study of approximately 5,000 children born between 1998 and 2000 found that children whose fathers were incarcerated were four times more likely to face contact with the child welfare system.

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 And we have done better, but there is so much common sense progress remaining to be claimed. Driving reform here in Newark has been a broad-based coalition, including, for example, the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. We worked across the aisle because this issue is not a left or right problem.

It’s

 a common sense problem.

It’s a basic question of continuing to fail, or moving forward. It’s a question of

making our communities safer, or continuing to waste law enforcement resources and taxpayer dollars.

1

 

“Fragile Families Research Brief: Parental Incarceration and

 

Child Wellbeing in Fragile Families,” Bendheim

-Thoman Center for Research on Child Well-Being, Princeton University Press (April 2008), http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Special%20Interest%20Areas/Children%20with%20Incarcerated%20Par ents/ParentalIncarcerationandChildWellbeinginFragi/fragile%20families%20brief_2.pdf

 

 Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

3 Our cities and towns cannot do this alone. The federal government must reform the system where it controls it and do more to support innovation at the state and local level. If we all come together to banish stigma and myth, and instead focus on fact and outcomes, we will do  better. The result will be safer communities, savings for taxpayers, stronger children and families, and a criminal justice system that reflects American values.

T

AKING

A

CTION

 

I.

 

R 

EDUCING PRISON ENTRIES FOR NON

-

VIOLENT OFFENDERS

 Low-level, nonviolent drug offenders comprise more than 50 percent of the federal prison population, and the number of drug offenders in state facilities has increased thirteen-fold since 1980.

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 We now spend more than $51 billion annually to fight the War on Drugs,

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 a war that has proven to be largely ineffective. Our sentencing regime for drug-related crimes is in need of reform. President Obama and Attorney General Holder deserve real praise for taking on this fight, but in order to achieve further progress, we should:

a.

 

Increase federal funding for proven, evidence-based programs like drug and community courts, that divert low-level drug offenders from prison

. Drug courts have been shown to significantly decrease recidivism and save taxpayers money. A drug court is a specialized model that moves non-violent drug offenders from the traditional court system to an alternative model, where the offender receives treatment, services, and rehabilitation, instead of a harsh sentence. In 2012, New Jersey established a $2.5 million pilot program to expand drug courts throughout the state. Sending a person to drug court in New Jersey costs about $13,000 less than sending a person to prison.

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 Here in Newark, we developed a Youth Court, which engages young people in the criminal  justice process, where youth help their peers receive the help they need to avoid reoffending. We also established

a veterans’ court and

 the first community court in the state of New Jersey. These alternative court models provide municipal judges with increased sentencing options for nonviolent offenders so they may help address the underlying issues driving criminal  behavior and reduce the likelihood of recidivism. The problem-solving approach to justice has also improved public perceptions of justice in Newark and in countless other municipalities all over the world which have embraced the model.

b.

 

Facilitate a structured, national conversation about the decriminalization of marijuana

: Each year more than 700,000 people are arrested for marijuana possession. When arrests occur, African Americans are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana

2

 

E. Anne Carson and William J. Sabol, “Prisoners in 2011,” Bureau of Justice Statistics (Dec. 17, 2012),

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4559.

3

 

“Drug War Statistics,” The Drug Policy Alliance (accessed on Aug. 27, 2013), http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug

-war-statistics.

4

 

Stuart Rabner, et al., “A Model for Success: New Jersey’s Adult Drug Courts,”

 New Jersey Courts (Oct. 2010), http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/drugcourt/DrugCourtReport.pdf.