Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. Yesterday, our colleague Senator Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, came forward and said that his State of Texas and other States are showing that they can reduce recidivism--in other words, committing another crime after you are released--by treating prisoners differently in their State prisons. As I said on the floor, you may be shocked to think that Texas would be a leader in this, but they have been, and they have seen a reduction in the incidence of crime and a reduction in the incidence of incarceration--things we like to see happen. Reduce the cost to taxpayers of the prisons, but reduce crime on the streets too. Make sure you do both. He believes they have achieved it. What they did was they looked at programs that work. So what we did was the same thing. Senator Grassley and I, as well as, as you mentioned, Senator Cornyn and Senator Whitehouse, looked at these prison reform programs in the States and said: What can we learn from them? What we did was to establish the obligation of the Attorney General-- this is not the obligation of social workers but the obligation of the Attorney General of the United States to take a hard look at the programs that work for prisoners. What can we do to make sure they don't commit another crime, create another victim, and come back to prison? We spell out exactly what we are looking for: the most effective and efficient, evidence-based recidivism-reduction programs. That is a long title.…”