More good and important questions criminal justice questions for the 2016 Prez field

As explained in this prior post, I think we already have enough declared candidates for President to early to start assembling criminal-justice reform questions to ask any and all persons pursuing the top position in the Executive Branch of the US Government. As also noted in that prior post, Radley Balko got this task off to a running start earlier this month via this extended Washington Post piece headlined “Are you running for president? Please answer these questions about the criminal justice system.” I now see folks at The Crime Report have this effective follow-up headlined “Campaign 2016 and Criminal Justice.”

This valuable Crime Report piece provides  effective context for a discussion of criminal justice reform during the (already underway) 2016 Prez campaign, and and a number of question that should be of special interest to sentencing fans:

In our system, most of the gritty justice issues, from overcrowding in jails and prisons to police use of force and errant prosecutors, are dealt with on a state and local level—not by the feds.

Nevertheless, leadership in the White House matters: it establishes priorities, frames the national agenda and sets a tone. And we clearly need leadership today.

Crime and justice issues are back on the national agenda to an extent that hasn’t been seen since the “tough on crime” era of the 1990s.

Not a single question on the topic was asked during the 24 presidential, vice presidential and primary debates leading up to the 2012 election.

Perhaps that’s understandable. National opinion polls have shown steadily diminishing public concern about crime over the past two decades — in effect, tracking the national decline in crime rates.  Of course, it’s worth noting that polls have also shown that public safety remains high on the list of issues troubling many of our poorest cities and neighborhoods.

But while politicians might be forgiven for largely staying away during recent presidential election cycles from the hot-button subject of crime and justice (a silence, it must be said, that some commentators have welcomed for the breathing space it has allowed efforts at serious reform), they shouldn’t get a pass now.

We’re confronted today by the consequences of our collective failure to deal with many of the problems that the anti-crime policies of past decades set in motion —and by our persistent failure to address the glaring and deep-rooted inequities that those policies exposed….

Readers of The Crime Report are well informed of these challenges. And it’s also gratifying to note that some of the prospective candidates from both major parties have begun to acknowledge them as well. In this one area of our national life, at least, a healthy bi-partisanship has begun to appear.

But we need to make sure that a healthy debate about justice reform doesn’t get swept under the rug by the homogenizing pressures of a political campaign. It’s hard to separate what ails American criminal justice from the systemic problems of American society—from racism to economic inequality and our underfunded educational system. It’s never been more important to get our would-be leaders on the record.

So, as our own contribution to the effort, The Crime Report plans over the next few months to ask each candidate targeted questions about his or her ideas and visions for fixing what many consider our “broken” criminal justice system—and to publish them here….

Following the path blazed by Balko, our editorial team has come up with 13 questions we believe deserve honest and practical answers. You can read our proposed questions below….

The War on Drugs. The federal government has historically allocated about the same amount of resources to drug interdiction on the border and abroad as for drug treatment in the U.S. Is that a fair division, or would you spend more or less money on either function?…

Sentencing Reform. What steps would you take with Congress to reduce the long prison sentences that have contributed to the growth in our federal prison population? What steps would you take to encourage states to do the same?…

Marijuana. Federal law makes marijuana an illegal drug, but several states have either legalized recreational pot—or are considering doing so. What would you do about this contradiction? Do you favor changing the federal classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug?…

Capital Punishment. Do you favor capital punishment for terrorism or other heinous federal crimes?…

Overcriminalization. Do you believe we have overcriminalized too many behaviors that pose little or no danger to public safety? If so, what will you do about it?

Recent related post:

• Lengthy list of hard criminal justice questions for the 2016 Prez field