The President and Criminal Justice Reform

The President and Criminal Justice Reform

I decided to post the article titled; “The President and Criminal Justice Reform” because it coincides with my series being rolled out on policy and reform.  Excellent points are made here and validate my writing in the area of America’s understanding of policy changes and development.  I am not an expert on policy but this was a heavy focus of my Master’s Degree program and I want to share as much as I can about the subject.  The video below is right on time. This is written around the President’s Criminal Justice Reform policies (Obama administration).

A reporter who covered the police beat in Baltimore did this interview at the President’s request (exceptionally done I may add) on the topic of criminal justice reform and policy review. I thought it was extremely relevant as the topic of policy in the United States (Foreign and Domestic) and why it is so complicated.  The ideas are similar but the paths to get to each destination or end road are usually filled with many opinions, complications, lobbyists, and a few answers that make sense at the end of the day. Although I may not agree with everything said in the interview, it is broken down into terms of the thought and then the feedback that would go into changing America’s policy on the criminal justice system.  I am an advocate for this subject as I believe it is far from “just” and the President has great forethought to bring this out for us to begin the discussion so good for him.

By no means am I defending Congress, the Senate, or even the most powerful office in the world, but it is more complex than just jotting down words and hoping people will follow the new “policy.” So we as a society need to take the time and understand why this is such a complex issue to put together.  In my series found at; Chris Grollnek’s home page, I explore thoughts starting with crime control initiatives from the 1960s on and relevant news articles that transcend through the decades as the names and tactics may have changed or even evolved but the problems remain similar. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but the policy is always at the center of the answer to the riddle of “what to do to make things better.” So when we see people screaming, crying, or evening debating on the news about tactics or procedures, few take the time to understand a certain policy in place that quite possibly brought them to that moment in time.  Once discovered, they may find this is where these issue(s) stemmed from.

Read what this writer put together and keep in mind, he was an instrumental cog in the creation and sustainment of the popular show, “The Wire.” In fact, (in my humble opinion) I think it was so prolific, it was egged out of Emmy Awards (as well as many others) because it hit so close to the truth. Few wanted to examine the problem and issues the show brought to light and still many scream for more reform.  Snapshot this; how can we develop a policy for everyone to comprehend and support when we cannot award the deserving fictional TV show because the truth is too hard to face?

This is food for thought and I am writing a series of essays breaking down why the policy is more than words on paper and instructions for people to follow.  Many times, I write policies for companies on workplace violence prevention or the topic I am most known for which is Active Shooter Prevention. Having survived two separate incidents domestically, I have a unique perspective from the inside of these types of events. I watch people train on these subjects and struggle to keep quiet as they are teaching from training the only experience with zero real-life experiences to bring with them. They are teaching from their own perception of policy on the subject. A policy cannot be implemented based on training experience only, it takes so many levels on an input to be successful.

FROM THE INTERVIEWER: Today, I make television shows. And last Friday, my phone rang. Someone on the other end told me that the President of the United States wants to have a conversation about criminal justice policy in America.

In his effort to try to reconsider some of the sentencing excesses and the levels of incarceration that have become so problematic in America, the President wanted to discuss these issues with me — particularly because a lot of them were rooted in a television show that we did several years ago called “The Wire.” In that show, we were trying to explore what the drug war has become in America and what it was costing us as a society.

So I went to Washington earlier this week and sat down with the President. We shared our experiences, our perspectives on the drug war, and the changes we hope to see. Check out the youtube video above!

Chris Grollnek, MS

Active Shooter Prevention Expert and School Shooting Lecturer for Staff and Students

Filed under:

The President and Criminal Justice Reform – Series from www.chrisgrollnek.com on policy essays by Chris Grollnek – Nationally Recognized and Award-Winning Active Shooter Prevention Expert / Policy Writer and Author / Work Place Violence Evaluator and Risk Mitigation Specialist

Similar Posts