President Obama published an essay in the Harvard Law Review Thursday to highlight his efforts at criminal justice reform, saying he’s the first president since Jimmy Carter to leave office with fewer inmates in federal prison than when he was inaugurated.
Mr. Obama, who has commuted the sentences of more than 1,000 inmates over eight years, said the rate of incarceration in the U.S. still “dwarfs not only other Western allies but also countries like Russia and Iran.”
“Many of the most tragic failings of the justice system are disproportionately felt by communities of color,” Mr. Obama wrote. “Over the past thirty years, the share of African American adults with a past felony conviction — and who have paid their debt to society — has more than tripled, and one in four African American men outside the correctional system now has a felony record.”
The president succeeded in reducing penalties for certain drug crimes early in his tenure, but a broader legislative effort at criminal justice reform stalled in Congress. President-elect Donald Trump has been critical of some of Mr. Obama’s efforts and is unlikely to continue the president’s sweeping clemency actions.
Still, Mr. Obama said he believes there is “historic momentum” for bipartisan action to reform the justice system.
White House Counsel Neil Eggleston told reporters that he hopes the article will help to “educate the next generation of lawyers about these issues.”
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The president said the U.S. must keep working on solutions to reduce the prison population, saying the total cost of incarcerations at all levels of government is more than $81 billion per year. That sum is “enough to fund transformative initiatives like universal preschool for every three- and four-year-old in America — initiatives that can change the odds for so many kids, including by keeping them out of the juvenile and criminal justice systems in the first place,” he wrote.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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