A Path to Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform
A new brief from the American Enterprise Institute explores how the federal government can help cities and states reduce crime and incarceration rates, efforts which the authors argue could garner rare bipartisan support. A Smarter Approach to Federal Assistance with State-Level Criminal Justice Reform recommends several federal reforms to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons, including ending the practice of “prison gerrymandering” (counting prisoners as “residing” in prisons, altering population and voting statistics) and increasing funds for defense attorneys for defendants who cannot afford them. The authors also call on the Department of Justice and President Trump to use the bully pulpit to shift the national conversation on criminal justice to reducing incarceration.