In one of the most expansive speeches on criminal justice policy of his tenure, President Obama called for either reducing or eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes, reconsidering solitary confinement for prisoners and increasing job training programs for people while they are incarcerated.
Obama also urged states to get rid of laws that bar convicted felons from voting and said employers should avoid asking on job applications if a person has a criminal record, both practices that disproportionately affect minorities.
The president also called on Congress to pass a criminal sentence reform bill by the end of the year. And he said he had asked the Department of Justice to start a study on ways to improve conditions for Americans in solitary confinement.
"We keep more people behind bars than the top 35 European countries combined," the president said in a speech to the NAACP's annual convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
