The Wall Street Journal recognized Gov. Nathan Deal's efforts on overhauling Georgia's criminal justice reform system in a July editoral. Read the full text below:
Obama's Prison Breakout
States are already leading a bipartisan reform effort
July 17, 2015
Barack Obama became the first sitting President to visit a federal prison when he traveled to Oklahoma City on Thursday for an inside look at the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution. He did so as part of a push to reform the federal prisons—specifically, reducing the number of incarcerated nonviolent drug offenders, who represent about half the federal prison population and are disproportionately young black men.
The surprise here is that the President is a trailing political indicator. Unlike so many other issues in Washington these days, there’s a growing bipartisan consensus for prison reform. Part of the reason is simple numbers: The U.S. is jailing people faster than the public can pay for them. From 24,640 in 1980, the federal inmate population has increased eightfold to 208,000. The Bureau of Prisons estimates it costs taxpayers $30,620 a year for each prisoner.
States face similar challenges, and some are already taking the lead by setting up drug courts for nonviolent offenders serious about getting treatment, or reducing mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenses. Republicans at the forefront include former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Governors Chris Christie (a former federal prosecutor) in New Jersey and Nathan Deal in Georgia.
The measures Mr. Deal has pushed include giving judges more leeway in sentencing for low-level offenders and allowing charter schools into prison to help inmates get a high school diploma. Mr. Deal appreciates that most prisoners will be released eventually, so society has a big stake in ensuring they have help to find a job and avoid falling into a life that will send them back to prison.
He’s managed to reduce the prison population while keeping crime low, and he’s not alone. A Pew Charitable Trust study reports that from 2008 to 2013 the 10 states that instituted prison reforms and cut their incarceration rates the most saw a greater drop in crime rates than the 10 states that increased their prison populations most.
Now Congress is catching up. Two of the most significant proposals are the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would reduce the length of mandatory minimum sentences, and the Corrections Act, which would encourage programs aimed at reducing recidivism. It tells you something about what’s possible that the former is co-sponsored by Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, while the latter is the joint effort of conservative John Cornyn of Texas and liberal Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
One way for the President to kill this opportunity would be with more of the executive grandstanding that has poisoned the well on immigration and so many other issues. The President’s decision Monday to commute the sentences for 46 federal prisoners is within his constitutional authority. But if he wants more than political gestures, he’ll work with Congress for lasting changes in law rather than issue executive orders.
Reform is possible now in part because crime rates have fallen so far from their heights 20 or 30 years ago. The causes are many but they include the success of such conservative policies as broken-windows policing and incarcerating repeat offenders.
Conservative have come to appreciate that too many people are in prison, but liberals should acknowledge the success of conservative policing. That means not using every racially charged incident as an opportunity to demonize police or handcuff pro-active policing in high-crime neighborhoods. Maybe Mr. Obama should give his next speech highlighting anti-crime success.
