so, what he s saying remarkably, because usually attorney generals talk about how tough they re going to be on crime, he s actually giving back some power to judges saying he s going to let judges decide individual cases. it s still an issue of, this is not a you know, being legislatively enacted. so theoretically the next attorney general could come and say, we re going back to the old tough on crime. it talks about how more political space is being made around crime issues. this is a step in the right direction but congress has to complete the job. as you indicated, we ve got senators on the right, rand paul, mike lee, who have expressed support for reducing mandatory minimums, changing the sentencing disparity, giving federal judges more discretion. as i mentioned on the house judiciary committee, there s a bipartisan task force on overcriminalization, five
stronger police strategies put in place but none have to do with the tough on crime reactionary laws that were passed. we ve taken steps forward. that s a good thing. even in congress, the house of representativetiv representativetives, typically not the place for partisan cooperation, we have a task force on overcriminalization that s bipartisan in nature, five democrats, five republicans, conservatives, progressives, taking a real hard look at what we can do to reduce the dramatic impact of the overcriminalization we ve seen in america. well, i wonder if you could talk a little bit we mentioned it at the outset. rand paul, rick perry in texas, the republican party that gave us willie horton ad, is embracing this idea of sentencing reform, what s going on? how widespread in the party is this? it s really widespread. it s two-fold. on the one hand the tremendous cost born by having prisons
and right enacting tough on crime pieces of legislation. perhaps some was fueled by political expediency and fear among some members of the democratic party not to be perceived as soft on crime, given the fact that you had reprehensible ad says such as that to grate political effect in order to advance republican candidates for office. the good news is that the facts on the ground have changed substantially. the crack cocaine epidemic is over. crime throughout big cities all across america has been reduced dramatically. the prison population is clearly unsustainable fiscally. many have come to view it as morally reprehensible. as everyone on the panel has said today, we really have a meaningful opportunity on both the left and the right to come together and do what s right for america. reduce overcriminalization we ve been experiencing in this country for decades. i want we ll pick that up after this break. all right. ne. boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. ca
russ cost for anybody but it s the cost of lives, human lives. i think so many young people, african-american and latino men whose lives have been shattered forever by virtue of a prison term. if we could save them and help them not go to prison. if we could find some other way to some other punitive measure that doesn t put them behind bars and rob them of an education and support their families, that s a good thing. congressman, i wonder if you can speak to the legacy of that ad in terms of shaping democratic policy for the last generation because eleanor started to touch on this, too, when you look at what the clinton administration actually achieved in the 1990s, also at the state level, democrat controlled states in the late 80s and 90s, really, enacted these punitive measures because of fear of what happened to michael dukakis happening to them? the legacy of what we re dealing with now is overincarceration, overcriminalization came from bipartisan efforts on the left