Is the U.S. criminal justice system on the verge of systemic reform?

by Ben Reilly Wed May 06, 2015 9:11 pm

Two big news stories today seem to suggest the possibility:

Chicago approved an unprecedented deal on Wednesday to compensate victims tortured in police custody in the 1970s and 80s under the regime of a notorious former police commander, in an attempt to close a dark chapter in the city’s history.

A historic package of reparations will be paid out to living survivors, in the first gesture of its kind in America.

Chicago city council voted to award a total of $5.5m to help survivors, almost all African American men, who were mistreated in a long episode of police brutality that ran throughout the 70s and 80s under Jon Burge.

The funds will be used to pay up to $100,000 per individual for living survivors with valid claims to have been tortured in police custody during Burge’s command.

The package also provides for a public memorial and access to services including counselling and free tuition in city colleges for both survivors and their immediate families.

It was passed unanimously by the city council on Wednesday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel had previously said the decision’s aim was, belatedly, to “bring this dark chapter of Chicago’s history to a close” and called Burge’s actions a disgrace.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/chicago-agrees-to-pay-5-5-million-to-victims-of-police-torture-in-1970s-and-80s/

And from a wider perspective, former President Clinton renounced his "tough on crime" policies of the '90s that have led to record incarceration, lending support to proposals by his wife, the probable next President of the United States, that would reverse these trends:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/28/bill-clinton-calls-for-end-mass-incarceration

Seems the American public may finally see some positive changes to the deeply troubled criminal justice system. I'm sure the frequent news of police brutality has a lot to do with it!