Project for Opportunity and Safety

The Wall Street Journal: Republican National Committee Backs Overhaul of Criminal Justice System

The Republican National Committee unanimously passed a resolution in favor of overhauling the nation’s criminal justice system and reducing the size of the U.S. prison population, in a sign of conservative enthusiasm for the issue.

At the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Florida on Friday, the full committee passed a resolution calling for “reforms for nonviolent offenders at the state and federal level.”

Though nonbinding, advocates are looking to include the language or something similar into the party’s official platform at July’s Republican convention. After decades of politicians in both parties embracing tough sentencing laws and deference to courts and law enforcement, the resolution from the RNC is a sign of bipartisan consensus that has been emerging on the issue. Congress and state legislatures are already considering criminal justice changes.

The RNC’s resolution notes the growing share of state budgets being consumed by correctional expenses, as well as a large expansion of the prison population since 1980. It embraces efforts to shrink the number of incarcerated individuals, divert more drug offenders into treatment and keep more families intact.

“The Republicans are the ones that have taken the lead on this,” said Tom Mechler, the chairman of the Texas Republican Party and a member of the RNC — pointing to the efforts of Republican governors to reduce recidivism and shrink prison populations in states like Texas and elsewhere.

Mr. Mechler pushed the resolution at the committee meeting this week and worked on criminal justice issues as a member of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice board.

He hopes the RNC’s unanimous embrace of the mantle of criminal justice will make its way into the official Republican Party platform — and remains “optimistic” convention delegates will consider the platform. Convention delegates who serve on the platform committee will ultimately decide the content of the platform.

In the final year of President Barack Obama‘s administration, criminal justice has emerged as the one rare area of potential partisan cooperation. Mr. Obama has repeatedly expressed support for the issue and he has found a willing audience in Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

In both the Republican-led House and Senate, bipartisan bills are being considered in committee that would reduce mandatory minimum sentencing and encourage more rehabilitation efforts.

The criminal justice resolution was one of ten adopted by the full RNC that provide a hint at the direction of the party’s potential platform. The RNC passed other resolutions condemning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, for example, as well as another condemning Iran’s ballistic missile tests. Another called for a full investigation into the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Originally Posted on The Wall Street Journal