Senators to reveal criminal justice overhaul on non-violent drug offences

The reforms are not as strong as most advocates would like

Barack Obama, alongside officer Ronald Warlick, left, and Charles Samuels, right, Bureau of Prisons Director, tours a cell block at the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. (Saul Loeb/Getty)

The Senate Judiciary Committee will introduce criminal justice reform on Thursday that will cut mandatory prison sentences for non-violent offenders.

NPR reports that the “unusual” left-right Coalition for Public Safety, formed earlier this year, includes Koch Industries, the American Civil Liberties Union and others. The proposal will address sentencing reform, re-entry programs and ban solitary confinement for juveniles.

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, leader of the Senate Judiciary, supports the proposal that seeks to reduce the financial costs of mass incarceration that have hit minority communities the hardest, the New York Times reports.

However, early reports say that the “overhaul” will not go as far as criminal justice reform advocates would like. One congressional aide who was briefed on the proposal told the Washington Post that “It’s not fair to characterize it as sweeping overhaul. It is actually much less than what the advocates have been hoping for.”

“A deal at this point seems to have been reached,” Junior Senator Cory Booker told the Post. “It is good progress in the right direction.”