A quartet of NFL players who have devoted time and effort to addressing concerns regarding the criminal justice system have written a column that advocates against what could be a renewed war on drugs.
The effort from Malcolm Jenkins, Anquan Boldin, Glover Quin, and Johnson Bademosi, posted at CNN.com, is aimed at a recent directive from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to require prosecutors to seek the strongest possible sentences in all situation, including drug offenses.
"[W]e believe our justice system is broken,” they write. “We believe America is locking the wrong people up for the wrong reasons for too long. We believe treatment and rehabilitation are often better alternatives to prison. And we believe that for those who do deserve prison time, there should also be second chances.”
The four players have spent time in D.C., meeting with members of Congress in order to effect change.
“We were so gratified to see that most of the elected officials we met in Washington on the right and on the left believe this, too,” they explain. “In fact, it seems criminal justice reform may be the only issue where members of both parties agree.”
That would be significant, given the current volume and tone of the discourse in Washington.
“We are in this for the long haul,” the players say. “We know these problems won’t be solved in a few weeks or months, but we are committed to using our voices to do whatever we can to truly make our neighborhoods safer.”
The full article can be seen here. Jenkins, Boldin, Quin, and Bademosi deserve credit for addressing a serious problem in a thoughtful way and attempting to identify solutions for solving it.