Senator Webb's new crusade to reform the American criminal justice system has earned him plaudits from both sides of the aisle as he attempts the thankless and politically risky confrontation with the 'tough on crime' mentality that has held American political views hostage on this issue for decades. Glenn Greenwald has a great run down on the topic and how, with no apparent motive apart from a sense of justice, the Senator from Virginia has decided to address what has become an American tragedy. To quote Webb's floor speech, "We have 5% of the world's population; we have 25% of the world's known prison population. We have an incarceration rate in the United States, the world's greatest democracy, that is five times as high as the average incarceration rate of the rest of the world." It is high time this problem was addressed and all credit to Senator Web for taking up the cause.
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