The Incredible, Bipartisan, Kumbaya Moment for Criminal Justice Reform

When George W. Bush was governor of Texas, the state built 38 new prisons, and the state’s annual corrections expenditure jumped jumped by $1 billion to $2.4 billion, a 71 percent increase. That’s what it was to be tough on crime. No one would ever describe Bush’s successor, Rick Perry, as a softie or a liberal, but in his 15 years as governor, Perry became a prison reformer: signing laws to benefit juvenile offenders, approving new standards for forensic crime labs, and increasing compensation for exonerated prisoners. At a Conservative Political Action Conference panel in March 2014, Perry criticized tough sentencing guidelines and praised drug courts that help steer addicts clear of prison. “You want to talk about real conservative governance?” he said. “Shut prisons down. Save that money.”

Perry is one of 23 contributors to a book just published by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. It is a surprising sort of kumbaya moment as the 2016 campaign gets underway, a rickety bridge across America’s partisan chasm. Solutions: American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice Reform includes essays from a wide range of congressional representatives and public figures, Republicans like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Texas Senator Ted Cruz—and Democrats like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Perry calls for other states to “follow the successful example of Texas [to] eliminate our incarceration epidemic”—he, as well as Walker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb seek to expand drug treatment as an alternative to prison. Paul, Cruz, and Clinton want to ease mandatory minimum sentencing. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee wishes to treat drug addicts, eliminate financial waste, and “address character.”