Fixing our broken criminal justice system is a moral imperative

I struggle to comprehend how a country as rich as America - wealthy, absolutely, but also rich in intellectual talent, rich in diversity, rich in industrial might, rich in the fruits of our plains, rich in most every conceivable measure - allows so many of her citizens to decay in prisons, or following release, to live as second-class citizens.

Over the last couple of years, politicians have begun talking about the need for criminal justice reform, and prison numbers have been falling a bit, after steadily climbing for decades. America's epidemic of mass incarceration has devastated individuals, families, and communities. The "War on Drugs," which ushered in a wave of "get tough" laws, was, in effect, a war on communities of color, as our justice system imposed harsh sentences for low-level offenders, often through long mandatory minimums triggered by weight and that allowed no discretion in sentencing by judges. From the lens of faith, the question must be raised, "Are we a country of retribution or restoration?"

All indicators suggest retribution is the law of the land when offenders are non-white and poor, but restoration is the "new" policy of choice for people of European ancestry, especially for cases involving heroin. Charles Blow of the New York Times has noted that America's criminal justice system and policing policies have anti-black bias.

I am personally bewildered by the calls for personal compassion by evangelicals within the walls of the church, but the deafening silence by established old guard evangelicals in joining the movement to end America's archaic and unfair drug policies.

As a result of these overzealous policies, today, no other nation locks up more of its own people than the United States.

The gross numbers are alarming themselves - over 2.3 million Americans are in prison or jail - but the disproportionate impact on people of color is shameful and outrageous. The Bureau of Prisons reports that 37.7 percent of the prison population is African American and 34 percent is Hispanic! One in every 10 black males in their 30s is in jail or prison on any given day. Just this past year, 70 percent of all mandatory minimum sentences were handed down against African American and Hispanic offenders.

We all know that Illinois has been greatly affected by violence in our inner cities, often the result of drug market expansion, and drug addiction and overdose across the state. We cannot arrest our way out of either problem.

Too many children are growing up with parents in prisons. Treating addiction as a crime rather than a public health issue does much more harm than good. Instead of throwing in jail people with substance abuse issues, we should be guiding them towards the recovery and rehabilitation services they need.

We should be helping our neighbors find redemption, rather than seeking retribution for what are often victimless crimes.

It is a moral imperative that we correct the structural issues that rob our criminal justice system of its efficacy and destroy its ability to guarantee justice for all. Thankfully, some of our elected representatives are beginning to wake up to these problems. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently passed the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which lowers the term of several of the harshest mandatory minimum sentences, targeting them at only the most dangerous offenders, and expands the ability of judges to use their discretion in sentencing certain types of defendants. It also retroactively applies recent sentencing reductions to those serving excessive terms imposed in the past.

A bipartisan coalition of senators, including our own Dick Durbin, showed maturity and leadership by coming together to craft this important legislation. I call on Illinois' second senator, Mark Kirk, to acknowledge the injustices caused by our broken criminal justice system and join with his two dozen colleagues who have already signed on as co-sponsors of this bill.

The serious structural issues facing our nation's criminal justice and sentencing systems demand serious action on the part of our elected representatives. Now is the time to decide whether we want mass incarceration to define the character of our society or whether we will work toward implementing meaningful reform.

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III is the senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.