Trump missed a chance to reform criminal justice

On the stump, candidate Trump seemed capable of coming around on criminal justice reform, if only for the sake of the economy. To be sure, he was – and is – an immigration reformer who talks tough on crime, but the core beliefs he espoused behind the podium painted a portrait of a man who viewed governmental waste with such utter disdain that he would stop at nothing to cast it down the river as he drained the swamp.

The Donald Trump we had known for decades surely would not stand for government property seizures either. Imagine for a moment that the police barged into the penthouse suite in one of Trump’s shiny, eponymous hotels and seized briefcases full of cash from one of his most loyal customers – a “really great guy,” in Trump vernacular – who was somehow implicated in the investigation of a mega-million-dollar drug trafficking ring. Suppose that they then took the elevator down to valet and seized this gentleman’s Ferrari as well.

Back when he was just a businessman, Trump would have hit the ceiling. “There goes our government again, taking money from successful people,” he might have remarked. But as President Trump, he now supports an attorney general who is a fierce advocate for civil asset forfeiture.

In arenas from coast to coast, when candidate Trump spoke of waste and inefficiency in our government, talk about creating jobs for the forgotten men and women of our country was never far behind.

As President Trump, he has turned his back on the scores of inmates who remain casualties of the ill-fated war on drugs, which has ravaged minority communities and made professional prisoners out of low-level offenders through mandatory minimum sentences: Punishments that do not fit their crimes.

By pursuing measures to do away with mandatory minimums forever, our president could have given low-level drug offenders a path to rehabilitation and productivity. He could have eliminated the extreme burden our taxpayers face in housing and feeding people who should be working and paying taxes. Less waste and inefficiency. Fewer prisons. More jobs.

Instead, this president has empowered Attorney General Sessions, who has already taken measures to lengthen drug sentences by aggressively enforcing mandatory minimums. We’re going to need those prisons.

Trump’s fix? Build more private ones: Incarceration capitalism.

Would-be criminal justice reformers cite many compelling moral, constitutional and economic reasons for reform, and the data regarding our unprecedented system of mass incarceration in the United States is also hard to ignore. Detractors argue that some reform advocates from powerful places have skin in the game, as less inmates could equal lower taxes.

But when the respective interests at play are balanced, including the need to prevent, punish and protect and the desire to value life, maintain families and avoid wasteful spending, it hardly seems a close call:

America’s criminal justice system needs work. Harsher sentences, government takings and private prisons are not the answer.

Deep down, Donald Trump probably knows this; his financial instincts tell him so. It will take some nuanced thinking, but we can be smarter and still be tough on crime. We can guard our safety and still protect our economy, our families and our right to liberty. Despite all the tough talk, candidate Trump appeared interested enough in eliminating governmental waste to eventually come around on the virtues of reform.

Perhaps he’ll come around yet. But it seems he’s missed his chance.

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 5:04 AM with the headline "Trump missed a chance to reform criminal justice."