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“A
clear
opportunity
for
criminal
justice
reform”
Editorial
Aiken
Standard
Wednesday,
May
6,
2015
Members
of
the
South
Carolina
Congressional
delegation
are
rightfully
keen
to
consider
long
overdue
criminal
justice
reform. U.S.
Sen.
Tim
Scott,
R-S.C.,
said
on
Sunday
that
he
and
other
Republicans
in
the
state
are
eying
sweeping
criminal
justice
reforms
that
could
include
the
decriminalization
of
minor
drug
offenses.
Law
enforcement
should
certainly
continue
to
be
viewed
through
a
local
lens
across
the
country,
but
it’s
also
time
for
a
national
response.
Scott
isn’t
the
first
to
try
to
tackle
these
issues,
but
it’s
a
particularly
positive
sign
to
have
a
representative
of
South
Carolina
pushing
for
such
needed
reform.
“I’m
very
interested
and
very
engaged
in
studying
the
patterns
of
who
we
incarcerate,
why
we
incarcerate
and
what
we
can
do
about
it,”
Scott
said
in
an
interview
on
ABC’s
“This
Week”
news
program.
A
series
of
incidents
across
the
nation,
including
in
North
Charleston,
and
most
recently,
Baltimore,
have
clearly
put
the
spotlight
on
the
need
to
draft
some
kind
of
comprehensive
reform.
These
issues,
which
have
resulted
in
the
deaths
of
black
men
at
the
hands
of
police,
should
provide
a
clear
impetus
for
Congress
to
take
some
type
of
action.
Part
of
these
growing
tensions
certainly
involve
a
deep-seated
and
growing
mistrust
of
police,
as
well
as
high
unemployment,
high
poverty
and
high
rates
of
incarceration.
These
factors
have
made
it
all
too
easy
for
a
controversial
police
encounter
to
create
a
firestorm
of
accusations
and
emotion.
There
are
certainly
millions
of
interactions
between
law
enforcement
and
the
public
each
day
that
go
perfectly
fine.
However,
this
string
of
incidents
should
be
a
true
call
for
action.
Expanded
use
of
technology,
including
body
cameras
by
police,
can
certainly
help,
as
well
as
improved
training
of
law
enforcement
on
the
use
of
force.
Both
state
lawmakers
and
those
at
the
federal
level
have
wisely
given
consideration
to
providing
those
resources
to
law
enforcement
agencies.
This
is
clearly
a
pivotal
moment
in
policing,
and
body
cameras
should
make
a
difference.
Acquiring
such
technology
has
garnered
needed
traction
in
Aiken
County
with
the
death
of
Earnest
Satterwhite
at
the
hands
of
former
North
Augusta
Public
Safety
Officer
Justin
Craven.
That
department
wisely
implemented
the
use
of
body
cameras
for
every
sworn
officer
earlier
this
month.
Cameras,
of
course,
are
not
a
panacea,
but
they
should
increase
the
trust
and
comfort
level
over
time.
In
effect,
this
would
give
policy
agencies
a
greater
ability
to
show
what
exactly
they
are
doing.
Also,
one
study
conducted
in
Rialto,
California
indicated
that
body
cameras
actually
resulted
in
a
90
percent
drop
in
complaints
against
police
officers
and
a
60
percent
drop
in
the
use
of
force.
This
issue,
however,
goes
beyond
equipping
police
officers
with
greater
technology.
There
are
other
steps
to
take,
including
broadening
educational
and
workplace
opportunities.
Scott
has
tried
to
incorporate
these
initiatives
into
bills
he’s
proposed
that
he
refers
to
as
an
“Opportunity
Agenda,”
which
aims
to
lessen
the
gap
on
income
inequality
through
providing
such
opportunities.
Scott,
in
particular,
urged
a
focus
–
“first
and
foremost”
–
on
education
to
break
the
cycle
of
mass
incarcerations,
particularly
of
low-income
minorities.
“There
is
a
trend
that
can
be
broken
at
its
foundation
if
we
focus
first
on
education
and
second
on
work
skills,”
he
said.
It’s
positive
to
see
lawmakers
putting
this
kind
of
attention
toward
an
issue
that
was
overlooked
for
too
long.
It’s
also
garnered
bipartisan
consideration
as
Scott
noted
he’s
worked
with
not
only
Republicans
such
as
his
South
Carolina
counterpart
Lindsey
Graham
in
the
U.S.
Senate,
but
also
Democratic
leaders
such
as
Dick
Durbin,
D-Illinois,
and
Cory
Booker,
D-N.J.
This
issue
has
also
already
gained
traction
in
the
2016
presidential
race.
An
overhaul
of
the
U.S.
criminal
justice
system
looks
increasingly
possible
with
presidential
contenders
such
as
former
Secretary
of
State
Hillary
Clinton,
on
the
Democratic
side,
and
U.S.
Sens.
Ted
Cruz,
R-Texas,
and
Rand
Paul,
R-Kentucky,
on
the
Republican
side,
calling
for
reform,
which
has
helped
to
raise
the
issue’s
profile.
That
kind
of
growing
consensus
across
the
political
spectrum
is
no
doubt
positive.
Unfortunately,
to
some
degree,
they
have
bubbled
to
the
surface
because
of
the
string
of
cringe-worthy
incidents
that
have
happened
across
the
country.
There
have
been
few
bipartisan
breakthroughs
in
Washington,
D.C.,
as
of
late.
This
would
be
a
tremendous
one
for
the
future
of
the
country.
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