Conservatives Call on Trump to Prioritize Criminal Justice Reform

On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump called himself "the law and order candidate,' pledging to crack down on crime from the Oval Office.

But now, a coalition of conservative heavyweights are urging him – and Sen. Jeff Sessions, his nominee for attorney general – to make criminal justice reform "a top priority for your first 100 days in office."

"We share your goal of enhancing public safety and encourage you to consider that, just as with energy policy, it requires an all-of-the-above strategy," a letter addressed to Trump from conservative members of the U.S. Justice Action Network states. Just as dangerous criminals must be incarcerated, for "addicts and those with mental illness," society's interests "can best be advanced through treatment-based approaches."

"With your administration comes momentum and a clean slate for change," the letter says.

Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and a signatory to the letter, says his organization senses an opportunity to advance criminal justice reform with the incoming administration – particularly if Sessions, a conservative senator, is confirmed to lead Trump's Justice Department.

"My hope also is a lot of people in the justice reform movement maybe see it as well," says Head, who signed the letter along with Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, a tea party-affiliated group, and Marc Levin, policy director of the advocacy group Right on Crime. In addition to those conservative organizations, the Justice Action Network coalition includes the progressive Center for American Progress and civil rights groups the NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union.

At the Faith and Freedom coalition, "we hold quite a bit of optimism on the future of justice reform," Head says. "Admittedly, it would probably look different" under Trump than under the administration of President Barack Obama, "but we really feel like there remain many opportunities for reform."

He is also bullish on Sessions, the longtime Alabama senator whose nomination is opposed by organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and who has been criticized for past race-related statements he allegedly made.

Head notes that Sessions was instrumental in passage of legislation that reduced sentencing disparities between defendants convicted of possessing crack and powder cocaine.

"We feel like there are ripe opportunities" to revamp the system, from sentencing to rehabilitation to supervised release, Head says, and it's highly possible that Sessions "would be open to some creative new ideas" as attorney general.

During his campaign, Trump said he'd be tough on crime, notably endorsing the use of stop-and-frisk techniques. His approach included the assertion that police are being disrespected, along with criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement and a dark view that crime is "out of control," particularly in minority neighborhoods.

And though he blasted the Obama "administration's rollback of criminal enforcement" in his GOP nomination speech and has criticized Obama's commutations of some prisoners' sentences, the president-elect didn't talk much, if at all, about the disparate incarceration of African-Americans.

Meanwhile, a bill that would revamp sentencing laws has been sidetracked in Congress, and no one knows if Trump would try to jump-start it.

In the letter to Trump, the Justice Action Network partners framed criminal justice as an economic issue, arguing that revamping the system to make it fairer – and helping eliminate obstacles to hiring ex-criminal offenders – is a cost-free way to help boost the employment rate.

"As you know from creating so many employment opportunities in your enterprises, a job is the best social program and we look forward to working with your administration to turn many ex-offenders into productive workers and taxpayers who take care of their families," the letter states. "Recent data demonstrating that some 1 in 6 American men are out of the workforce or behind bars represents a reality you saw all too much as your campaign resonated with so many struggling families and we look forward to working with your administration so that more Americans can go from prison to paycheck."

"Given that 60 million Americans have a criminal record, we must ensure that those who do their time can also punch the clock," it says.

Trump could score big political points with conservatives and liberals alike by taking up the cause of criminal justice reform, Head says.

"I believe it may be the only realm in federal policy that may have wins at all levels," he says. "It reduces the budget, reduces crime, reduces the size of government and [Trump can] do all of this in keeping with the Constitution" and individual rights.

Trump also can look to conservative states like Oklahoma that have adopted some changes to make sentencing and incarceration fairer without seeing an increase in crime.

"For the last decade, the most groundbreaking criminal justice reform on the state level has happened in conservative states," Head says. "Those states have seen a reduction in crime rate, a reduction in the prison population and a reduction in fiscal impact, in state budgets. All of those things resonate with what a Trump administration has articulated as a broad objective."

While criminal justice reform is "consistent with our biblical worldview," Head says, it also "checks all of the boxes for conservatism."