Smarter Sentencing Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Thank you, Senator Lee. I am glad to be a part of this conversation. I share the concern that we all have for a Federal prison system that is 30 percent over capacity and costs $6 billion a year already. We have to add, if we are going to take care of the 30 percent over capacity--that is $6 billion under the present circumstances, and that $6 billion comes out of law enforcement budgets and community support budgets that could be making our streets safer.
At the beginning of every sentence, a judge imposes the duration of the sentence, and at the end of every sentence, a prisoner makes a decision about how he or she is going to engage with the public upon their release. There is a bill that deals with the latter part, helping prisoners make better decisions and be better prepared to reengage with the public once they are released. I hope very much the bill Senator Cornyn and I are leading in the Senate Judiciary Committee can, as this moves forward, be connected because the two are linked thematically, and it makes a big difference.
The reason we care about how people at the end get back into regular society is because if they reoffend they go back to prison again and add to the prison population and add to the costs. If they are in longer than they should be, then we are not getting any public safety benefit out of all of this.
So I look very forward to working with all my colleagues to try to see if we can get together in the Senate a comprehensive piece of sentencing reform legislation. Having been a prosecutor myself, having used mandatory minimums, I appreciate that they can, in certain circumstances, have value, but I think if one looks at the big picture, this sentencing reform legislation is important and will serve the public interest in a great variety of respects, including safer communities. So that is why I am cosponsoring it and that is why I am an ardent supporter of it.
In closing, let me thank Senator Durbin and Senator Lee for their leadership as the lead coauthors of this legislation and Senator Flake and Senator Booker for their efforts on behalf of this as fellow cosponsors.
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