Criminal Justice Reform

Jim Webb is trying to tackle our decidedly broken criminal justice system, by establishing a National Criminal Justice Commission to study the problem. Glenn Greenwald points out the political risks associated with such a position.

Here are some disturbing facts offered by Webb:

-- The US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. "There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."

--Number of incarcerated drug offenders in 1980: 41,000
--Number of incarcerated drug offenders in 2007: 500,000
--Percentage increase: 1200%

--Blacks = ~12% of population
--Blacks use drugs (frequent use) at comparable rates compared to other groups: 14%
--Blacks = 37% of those arrested on drug charges
--Blacks = 59% of those convicted on drug charges
--Blacks = 74% of those sentenced to prison on drug charges

(Thanks Left in Alabama)