American justice is not all that blind
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Express-News Editorial Board
President Barack Obama is led on a tour of El Reno Federal Correctional Institution, in El Reno, Okla., on July 16. The president called for reform U.S. sentencing laws and more humane treatment in prison.Evan Vucci /Associated Press
Mass incarceration policies in the United States must end.
Fortunately, there seems to be bipartisan agreement about that, highlighted this monthby President Barack Obama's call during a visit to a federal prison in Oklahoma.
What the president pointed out is part of the sad history of justice in contemporary America. Our system of arrests, convictions and sentencing has become, as one book has noted, the "new Jim Crow."
This mass incarceration has disproportionately singled out black and Latino males in Texas and throughout the country. And mandatory minimum sentences have meant longer terms for them than for white Americans for what would have been considered relatively minor felonies in years past.
In Texas, blacks and Latinos made up 67.7 percent of the "on hand" prison or state jail population at the end of August last year, including those serving time in facilities that serve as alternatives to prison or jail.
Sixteen percent of inmates were in for drug offenses, though this may understate the role of drugs, which may be involved in other categories of crimes. The figures, in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's fiscal 2014 statistical report, don't delineate how much drugs were involved in the sentences.
But, as the president made clear, low-level, nonviolent offenses significantly contribute to the trend that has made the United States the world's most prolific jailer.
To be a black or Hispanic in this country, according to the statistics, is to be more at risk for arrest and imprisonment. The Sentencing Project, a group that seeks fairness in sentencing, calculates that the lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for black men is 1 in 3, 1 in 6 for Latino males, and 1 in 17 for white men. Women generally are less likely to be imprisoned, but when they are, the same sort of disparities exist for the racial and ethnic groups.
It's true. For many Americans, "There but for the grace of God," as Obama noted in Oklahoma.
What the president and Congress have control over are federal laws and prisons. These have long been ripe for reform. Exiting Attorney General Eric Holder noted this, and the president, in the last two years of his final term, has signaled that he will join the fray. But Congress beat him to that punch, crafting a SAFE Justice Act that would discard mandatory minimum sentences for many low-level drug crimes and concentrate on reducing federal prison recidivism.
Texas has been ahead in this. Noting that it had spent $2.3 billion on more than 100,000 prison beds between 1983 and 1997, and that, by 2007, it was again out of beds and needed $900 million more, Texas, according to a look by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Public Safety Performance Project, began broadening the availability of treatment and diversion programs. This has filtered down to local systems in which "drug courts" have become valuable tools. These offer judges' discretion on programs vs. jailing.
But there's still more work to be done in Texas. For instance, though possession of small amounts of marijuana is classified as a misdemeanor — merely ticketed in some jurisdications — possession of 4 ounces to 5 pounds is a felony and can result in sentences of 180 days to two years in the state's jails, plus a $10,000 fine. Sale and possession for larger amounts constitute more severe felonies under the law, with a maximum penalty of up to 90 years in prison.
In cases of relatively smaller amounts in which no violence occurs and the people are decidedly not of the drug kingpin variety, this makes no sense.
That these laws have disproportionately ensnared people of color, though their marijuana usage in particular is not decidedly different from that of whites, is a blot on American justice.
Yes, too often, money to pay for noncourt-appointed lawyers, is a factor. Texas and other states should also look at more fairness in this sphere.
But Congress can start the move toward reform by enacting the SAFE Justice Act, and Texas should look at even more change in its sentencing for nonviolent offenders.
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