‘Justice and Redemption Go Hand in Hand.’ | The Marshall Project

See - ‘Justice and Redemption Go Hand in Hand.’ | The Marshall Project


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Whether or not you agree with President Obama about the need for criminal justice reform, it is undeniable that the speech he delivered in Philadelphia on Tuesday to the annual convention of the NAACP broke new ground. Many presidents have spoken before, and some with great ardor, about law and order. But no sitting president has ever publicly spoken at such length and in such detail as Obama now has about the persistent problems of crime and punishment in this country.








President Barack Obama speaks at the NAACP's 106th National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., on July 14, 2015. SAUL LOEB/AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE –– GETTY IMAGES


Pointedly invoking the names of prominent Republicans like Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, part of a bipartisan groundswell for smarter law enforcement, the president called for meaningful change at virtually every juncture: from the first interaction with police officers to prosecutorial charging discretion to the prison sentences imposed by judges to the conditions of confinement to the need for job training for those who are about to be released. Here are key passages from an address that surely will help shape the Congressional debate over justice reform in the weeks to come, along with links to some context: x x x." 

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