A Blue Ribbon Silver Lining?

It takes time to turn the Titanic around. And when a country has 2.3 million people in jail or prison, that's a Titanic-size problem.

Last March, Senator Jim Webb introduced a bill to create a national blue-ribbon commission to examine possible sentencing reforms. Ten months later, it has passed the Senate Judiciary committee on voice vote.

Doug Berman, the dean of criminal justice blogging, sees a possible silver lining in the chnaged power dynamics in the Senate following the special election in Massachusetts. It may be that, with health care no longer so front and center, other priorities may get the attention they have long deserved. If so, criminal justice reform should certainly be at or near the top of that list.