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1. Judge Ellis’ decision to depart below the Guidelines range of 19-24 years means there are a lot of people serving longer sentences for lesser crimes. Altho I believe Judge Berman will correct this, we are overdue on a serious national approach to criminal justice reform.
2. We incarcerate too many people for too long. We can have safer communities at a lower cost with shorter sentences & community-based approaches. We need to start making criminal justice policy on the basis of data, not ideology. Lock ‘em up & throw away the key doesn’t work.
3. We have to explicitly confront bias in the criminal justice system, whether it’s structural, or implicit or explicit bias on the part of decision-makers. We need to focus on prevention and successful reentry for people who have been in prison as much as we do on incarceration.
4. There is bipartisan consensus that we need criminal justice reform, but we need to do it comprehensively & use data to transform it, also hearing the voices of people who are impacted. The experience in some US states and foreign countries suggests we can do this.
5. Finally, we can’t do this unless the public understands tough on crime is a failed policy. Voters must support criminal justice reform candidates & prosecutors who believe in prosecuting fewer but more significant cases, without calling them soft on crime. We have work to do.
