Courage to Be Series: Punishment, Redemption, and Mercy
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Online Event
with Steven Zeidman
While the phrase “mass incarceration” is now commonly used in any discussion of criminal justice, little, if anything, is said about how to redress the crisis of 2.3 million people in American jails and prisons. Most suggested reforms are prospective – eliminate mandatory minimums, remove sentence enhancements like “three strikes” laws, lower the penalties for drug crimes, etc. However useful these reforms might be, they do nothing for the people currently behind bars. To confront and rectify the crisis of mass incarceration it is necessary to decarcerate the nation’s prisons. That in turn, requires confronting the reality that most people serving lengthy sentences in state prisons were convicted of violent crimes. And that, in turn, requires asking the question of how much time should or must someone serve for a violent crime?
The federal and most state constitutions expressly grant the executive the virtually unfettered power via clemency to commute sentences, and yet that vast power is seldom utilized. Although there are myriad explanations for the failure of elected officials to grant clemency, ultimately their reluctance is grounded in politics. What is needed, especially as COVID-19 roars through prisons, is a combination of political will, compassion, and courage.
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Topic: Courage to Be: Steven ZeidmanTime: Mar 10, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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