Obama calls for reform of ‘unfair’ US criminal justice system
US President Barack Obama has admitted that much of the United States' criminal justice system remains "unfair," saying the system needs reform.
“Much of our criminal justice system remains unfair. In recent years, more of our eyes have been opened to this truth. We can't close them anymore. And good people, of all political persuasions, are eager to do something about it," Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday.
"The United States is home to five percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prisoners," Obama said Saturday. "Every year, we spend $80 billion to keep people locked up," he added.
The US president argued that the reason America has such a high prison population is that more non-violent offenders have been put behind bars over the past decades than ever before.
"In too many cases, our criminal justice system is a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails," he said.
According to Obama, there are currently 2.2 million people in jails in the United States, compared to the 500,000, thirty years ago. Prison rates in the US are the world's highest, at 724 people per 100,000.
The president said he will launch a nationwide criminal justice tour next week in an effort to "highlight some of the Americans who are doing their part to fix our criminal justice system."
His remarks came as the administration prepares to release thousands of prisoners considered at low risk of returning to crime.
The Department is preparing to release around 6,000 inmates from federal prisons, starting at the end of October, federal law enforcement officials said earlier this month.
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