John Pfaff wrote an op-ed in Democracy Journal about the effect of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on mass incarceration and prison reform.
In recent years, bipartisan efforts to scale back the United States’s unprecedented reliance on incarceration had started to show some signs of success, with prison populations falling in nearly half the states nationwide between 2010 and 2015. Yet in 2016, Trump pulled off an upset victory in part by tapping into Americans’ continued fear of violence, relying aggressively on “tough on crime” rhetoric. Despite all the chaos currently embroiling his Administration, many are understandably nervous that his presidency could still derail these relatively nascent reform efforts. Thankfully, I think (and hope) these fears are likely misplaced, and contrary to many commentators I do not expect that the Trump Administration will have much impact on reform.
Professor Pfaff’s op-ed has also been featured in a New York magazine article. Read full article.