Cory Booker Unveils Plan For Criminal Justice Reform: 'The Stakes Are High'

[Tx4obama]

Cory Booker Unveils Plan For Criminal Justice Reform: 'The Stakes Are High'

WASHINGTON -- Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) on Wednesday morning announced an ambitious plan to reform the criminal justice system, promising to make it his focus if he wins a U.S. Senate seat in October.

"One of the biggest wastes of taxpayer dollars in our society today can be found in a criminal justice system in serious need in reform," Booker writes in a report released Wednesday. "As mayor of Newark, I have watched as my police arrest, re-arrest, and then re-arrest again, sending the same person for another trip through a revolving door system that not only largely fails to rehabilitate, but too often makes reoffending commonplace and most definitely is not helping to make our communities safer."

"The stakes are high," he continued. "The issue of mass incarceration implicates the safety of our communities, billions of taxpayer dollars, and the health and cohesion of our families. Our next steps will determine whether our criminal justice system remains a vehicle for rigid punishment and waste, or becomes a springboard for rehabilitation, opportunity, and hope."

Booker is running for the New Jersey Senate seat vacated by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). He will face off against Republican Steve Lonegan, a conservative former mayor of Bogota, N.J, in the Oct. 16 special election.

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Full article with LIST/outlining his plans, here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/cory-booker-criminal-justice_n_3826299.html