A BLUE-RIBBON LOOK AT CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The nation's criminal justice system is in need of an overhaul. This
is particularly true of its incarceration policies. Too many people
are being put behind bars who do not need to be there, at great cost
to the states, and not enough attention is being paid to helping
released prisoners re-enter society.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to create a blue-ribbon
commission to study the justice system and offer reforms. The bill's
main sponsor was Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia who is one of the
Senate's more thoughtful voices on crime and punishment.

Among the issues the commission would study is why the United States
has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world. Prisons are
filled with a large number of nonviolent offenders, including minor
drug offenders. In many cases, it would be more humane, economical
and effective to provide drug treatment and mental health alternatives.

The high imprisonment rate has long been troubling as a matter of
fairness, but with the recession it has become an enormous financial
burden. States have begun, out of fiscal necessity, to parole
prisoners faster and in larger numbers, and to look for alternatives
to incarceration. This scattershot approach is far from ideal. It
would be better to have experts address these issues at a national
level in a more methodical way.

The commission also would look at sentencing policies for drug
crimes, including their impact on minority communities, something
that is long overdue, as well as the involvement of foreign-based
gangs in crime in the United States. Some of the proposed topics have
backing across the political spectrum, including re-entry programs to
help released inmates begin law-abiding lives.

The bill has strong support from both civil rights and law
enforcement groups. The Senate leadership needs to push it to a vote,
and the House needs to get to work on passing a companion bill. A
broad consensus has emerged that the system is broken.