MSNBC: Disenfranchisement of the formerly incarcerated is unnecessary, unjust and counterproductive, Attorney General Eric Holder told an audience at the Georgetown University Law Center on Tuesday…
Holder’s remarks were made at a bipartisan criminal justice symposium held by the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights. The event is part of a renewed push for criminal justice reform from civil rights groups to find common ground between right and left over rolling back tough on crime policies that have lead to an age of mass incarceration, where more than 1.5 million Americans are behind bars. Nearly six million cannot vote because of laws stripping the formerly incarcerated of the right to cast a ballot, according to the Brennan Center…
In Congress, legislators from both parties are collaborating on legislation to lower federal mandatory minimum sentences and give judges more discretion over imposing harsh punishments. State governments, including those dominated by conservative leadership, have looked to reducing their prison populations when seeking to trim state budgets. With crime rates low, civil rights groups hope that the time is ripe for significant changes to the criminal justice system… (more)
