Hopes fade for reform of massive U.S. criminal justice system

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a renewed focus on wrongful arrests and racial discrimination after the death of George Floyd, meaningful reform of the massive U. S. criminal justice system is unlikely ahead of the November election, politicians and activists say.

The United States, where evidence here points to COVID-19 tearing unchecked through some jails, has the world's largest prison population and highest incarceration rate, studies show here A toxic relationship between some city police departments and their communities was highlighted by the May death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police office pressed his neck into the pavement.

But Congress has been unable to reach a bipartisan agreement on how to respond to demands for change in recent weeks, making it unlikely in months to come. As such, nationwide protests under the umbrella of the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement are unlikely to end anytime soon.

“It was kind of shocking, the huge gap between where your congressional Democrats are, where a lot of people in the movement on the ground are and where Republicans appear to be, and I think that’s really disappointing,” said Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning group, speaking of police reform legislation.

“They’re farther apart than ever,” said Randy Petersen, a former police officer and now senior researcher at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative group.

On June 25, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a police reform bill that Republicans have said they are unlikely to support. A day earlier, Democrats in the Senate blocked the Republicans’ reform bill. Both sides have accused the other of acting in bad faith.

The breakdown is especially bitter to members of the Brennan Center, the Texas foundation, and other deep-pocketed groups who helped push through a sweeping prison sentencing reform bill here in late 2018, heralded as the most significant change to sentencing in at least a decade.

The First Step Act led to the release of thousands here of inmates.

The unusual coalition was no accident, lobbyists and activis... (Read more)

Latest News