New Bill Seeks to reform Criminal Justice System

Virginia Senator Jim Webb has introduced legislation to create a blue-ribbon commission to investigate problems in the U-S criminal justice system. He says the commission’s goal will be to reshape the system “from top to bottom.”  Webb calls the criminal justice system “a national disgrace…” citing irregularities and inequities that disproportionately target communities of color. According to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, one out of every three African American males will be incarcerated during his lifetime. Prisons have also become holding facilities for the mentally ill, housing four times more mentally ill people than mental hospitals. To understand the problems with the nation’s criminal justice system we talk to Jin Hee Lee, assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

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