Obama: Reducing Mandatory Minimums Will Lead to ‘Safer Streets’ and ‘Better Citizens’

“So, it made me realize that if we really want to be smart on crime, you’ve got, let’s say, a maximum-minimum — mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for some drug related charge. If we reduce the amount of time that they are incarcerated, took all those savings and took some of that for one, two, three years of  re-entry programs that are highly supervised, then we are going to get better results. Safer streets, better citizens. Because he’s now paying taxes instead of taking taxes as award of the state. Less violence. More hope. He’s got an opportunity now to be a father as opposed to an absent presence in a child’s life. That’s how we rebuild communities. That’s why this is such a promising area.”