America behind bars: The time is ripe for prison reform

The rest of the world is starting to notice the United States' incarceration follies.

Case in point: "Why America locks up so many people," the recent cover story of the Economist magazine, showing the face of a forlorn Statue of Liberty behind bars.

The grim statistics noted: Some 2.3 million people, more than the population of 15 of our states, are now incarcerated — one in 100 adults. That's quadruple our 1970 imprisonment rate. For hard-to-defend reasons, and at staggering fiscal cost, we incarcerate people at a rate five times Great Britain's, nine times Germany's, 12 times Japan's.

Congress is on the brink of our first national reassessment in many decades. Sen. James Webb, D-Va., is proposing a National Criminal Justice Commission to take an 18-month, stem-to-stern look at the system, its shortcomings and alternatives. Webb's bill recently passed the House without opposition; now the question is whether the Senate can avoid a procedural objection by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and bring it to a vote.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012618578_peirce16.html