Why American Exceptionalism Abroad Requires Criminal Justice Reform
On the surface, national security and criminal justice policy may seem to be otherwise unrelated, but in fact, some of the major foreign policy lessons Americans have learned apply in great measure to justice reform.
Foreign policy scholars debate the concept of American exceptionalism, but with more than 20 percent of the world’s prisoners and only five percent of the world’s population, the United States has long been without doubt the exception on criminal justice. Being so out of step with other developed democracies has undermined our standing and moral leadership in the world.
Chart comparing Covid-19 infection rates in U.S. prisons and national rates. (Source-Kevin Schenpel)
(CN) As U.S. health care workers start receiving Covid-19 vaccinations this week, a new report touted as a pandemic-induced blueprint for criminal justice reform recommends prisoners should also be at the front of the line for inoculations.
With states across the country hitting record numbers of new Covid-19 cases, U.S. prisoners are also contracting the novel coronavirus at unprecedented levels.
More than 22,000 prisoners were infected by the respiratory illness last week, bringing the total number of infections for prisoners, as of Dec. 8, to 249,883, according to The Marshall Project.