The bipartisan push for criminal justice reform, backed by a coalition of law and advocacy groups that span the ideological spectrum, gained momentum last week from the White House and unlikely allies in the Republican-controlled Congress.
President Barack Obama on July 16 made the first presidential visit to a federal prison, just days after he commuted the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders. On Capitol Hill, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings that highlighted reform efforts at the state and federal levels. The confluence of action gave the issue a newfound immediacy, if not inevitability.
