Black members of the jury. We want to talk about your confidence level in the criminal Justice System. If you are in the mountain , andic, 202 7488001 experience with criminal justice, we want to hear your story this morning, 202 join us onu can also twitter or facebook. We will get your calls in just a minute but lets kick off the conversation with president recent weekly address he made about the criminal Justice System. Some 2. 2 Million Peoples behind bars in america and millions more are on parole or probation. Papernd 80 billion tax doll taxpayer dollars every year to keep people locked up. Many are serving excessively long sentences for nonviolent crimes. 60 have Mental Health issues and 70 were drug users. The population is disproportionately black and latino. Plenty of people should be behind bars but the reason we have more people behind bars than any other country, it is because we have criminal justice laws that need to be reformed. Simply locking people up does not make Community Safer or deal with the conditions that made the criminal activity in the first place. There is evidence that a 10 increase in High School Graduation rate leads to nearly a 10 decrease in arrest rates. A 10 wage increase for men without a College Degree lowers crime as much as 20 . Research suggests the longer people stay in jail the more likely they are to commit another crime once they get out. Is your confidence in the criminal Justice System after the headlines this morning out of baltimore in the cases against the Police Officer that arrested freddie gray . Also the supreme courts decision about an allwhite jury. What is your confidence level . Art in connecticut, you are up first. Connecticut, you are up first. Caller the finding of not life beingsomeones taken, somewhere somehow someone has a responsibility and if they cannot find it, it is horrendous and ridiculous. I actually have some personal ,xperience with a Family Member a nonviolent marijuana case and they are talking years for possession actually growing a few plants. Courthouse, someone someone gets one year. You are not trying to separate nonviolence from violent them,als and protecting it just does not have any rhyme or reason. This bigger case, no, it is ridiculous. Someone should be found guilty of something. That was my Family Member was taken into custody and ended up dead, i would want to know how why does i would want to know why. I would want to know why. Host eric in new york, experience with the criminal Justice System. Caller i was a person who was on probation in orange county, new york about 15 years ago. As a result of that, as most people for any type of charge, you have to be subject to random drug testing. I had an experience with being accused of a positive test in 2003. I of course knew i was fully clean and sober and innocent, and i as a thinking person had to figure out how this happened. It was very scary because of the things that can happen, so i began my own independent lead testingquietly, bled quite blood testing quietly. They were testing may with a saliva test. The laboratories were cutting corners and skipping the more credible scientific and legal testing steps. They were bringing people into court, accusing them, and when it came my turn when they accused me again for and a half years after i began my own blood testing, the law of averages finally came out. I happen to have my own blood test 33 minutes later and the entire system ground to a halt. Host that was eric in middletown, new york. Ryan in houston, texas. Caller i have no confidence and i am from new orleans, so i know the criminal Justice System is unfair. Withsouth we are dealing people, and it is the shame that they are ruining lives he hide marijuana. People are smoking cigarettes and doing all kinds of whitecollar crimes. They are really killing the black community. They are trying to make it out that people are doing so much, but once you get all of these felonies and misdemeanors under your belt, these jobs are not hiring. The people down south are the most rotten in the world. Host talking about new orleans from houston, texas. There were six officers involved in the death of freddie gray. This is officer edward nero, one of the six charged in connection with the death of freddie gray. Theres the officer leaving the courthouse after being acquitted of all charges in baltimore. The New York Times reports this the acquittal of a Police Officer charged in the arrest of freddie gray who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury questions whether any of the six of the Police Officers would be convicted. Was the second blow to the prosecutions sweeping case, announcing that baltimore is still seething. The first trial against officer William Porter ended in a hung jury in december. Expert says the judges finding was narrow and did not rule out the possibility of convictions against other officers charged in the case. They said the ruling turned not on a wholesale rejection of ,rosecutors broad legal theory but rather on judge williams determination that officer nero was a bit player in mr. Grays arrest. About who is this judge. This is reported by the baltimore sun. There is a picture of baltimore circuit judge mary williams. They report barry williams. Since been with the court december 2005. Judge williams provided over wednesdays hearing and he is preparing to hear motions. Here is more about the judge. Highlights, read the minal Court Division until litigation counsel of the Civil Rights Division of the u. S. 2005,e department 2002 to and a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the 1997 to 2002. That is a little background about the judge that decided this. Elijah cummings, a democrat from maryland that was in the streets during the rioting after the death, heeddie grays told a Radio Station that whatever happens, that would be justice. He says that the judge, barry williams, he called him fair and toughminded. They did not expect peaceful doonstrations Police ExpectPeaceful Demonstrations outside the courthouse. Says, the people of baltimore asked for justice and this is the Justice System. Savanna, georgia, good morning to you. How are you doing this morning . Host i am doing fine. What do you think . Caller i think that the system needs to be overhauled all the way around. The Justice System is just unbelievable how things like this can happen. If you think about the Trayvon Martin case, gentlemen get off. If you think about the officers in baltimore, nothing was done. Somebody has got to be held accountable to young lives being lost, whether they are white, black, or other. It is hard for the men and women of this country to travel around and understand that a system that is already in place, has been in place for a while, the 1994 crime bill that was supposedly put in place to cut down on some of the balance, we find out things were done wrongly. I do believe that the system needs an overhaul. Andcannot take your car drive time and time again, and not have your oil changed. Marijuana is being legalized all around the country in different young, so how do we hold men and women incarcerated for something that is being legalized . We need a system that is fair and honest, but does not take life. Age of someones that man in baltimore lost his life and he should not have. Host a couple things that you viewers,nt to show our first of all about overhauling the criminal Justice System. One gop lawmaker says, the senates criminal Justice Reform effort is dead and he said it is because many lawmakers think releasing more people from prison will increase criminal rates across the country. The other thing the caller talked about was that no one would be found guilty in this freddie gray death. This is from usa today. There are more trials to come, six officers were indicted. Whosix baltimore officers were charged in connection with the april 2015 death of freddie gray, and the next case coming up june 6 is for officer caesar goodson, the driver of the police wagon where gray suffered critical injuries. Seconddegree depravedheart murder, seconddegree assault, manslaughter by vehicle. Negligence, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. On july 5, another trial date coming up for the tenant brian wright lieutenant brian wright. He is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, seconddegree assault, this conduct in office, and reckless endangerment. 6 for officermber grayam porter who assisted onto a bench that did not secure. Im or get medical assistance alicia white on october 17, she was one of the officers who found gray unresponsive but did not provide medical assistance. Texas, goodt worth, morning. Caller the confidence in the criminal Justice System, i think it is a little backwards because the cops are being are not being punished. Just like the cop being acquitted yesterday, he helped the officers put freddie gray in a paddy wagon and he was charged. He should not have never been charged. Our criminals are being rewarded and our officers are being. Unished, and that disturbs me another thing that disturbs me with the criminal Justice System is that we have this crime light bill, with it being on felons, they are able to vote. They are able to go out and get jobs without being questioned. We have to get tough on this. We are going down the wrong road. The criminals are being rewarded. Host are you a democrat, republican, independent . Caller republican, of course. Republicans on capitol hill are part of this effort to reform the criminal Justice System. What is your message to them . Caller we have a lot of republicans who have to get out of office, unfortunately, and they do not represent me. The same republicans who got us this immigration reform, im going to give some names, with the House Speaker who just passed this big stimulus bill, he dont represent me. The Senate Republican that is pushing for leniency for criminals, they do not represent me. When he somebody that is really tough on crime. We need somebody that is really tough on crime. Newbieet me show you a on capitol hill, mike lee from utah. This is what he had to say back in april. He was standing with democrats at the podium talking about why there needs to be changes. If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. Here, making a choice not to reform will make us less safe. We currently spend about 25 of the department of justices annual budget on the bureau of prisons and that will increase to 30 by 2020. This is roughly on par with what we spend on the fbi and the dea combined. Enact a new time we minimum mandatory penalty, every single year that you lapses when we do not reform our mandatory withnimum mandatory, something that will actually make us more safe, we are making our self less safe. People sometimes ask me why i am a conservative republican and yet i support this. I support this not in spite of my status as a conservative republican but because of it. Conservative republicans tend to believe in due process and protecting the individual from an overbearing government. Nowhere is the due process of deprivation more pervasive than when the federal government locks people up for years and decades at a time. This also has a very significant human cost which i think is the most important element. Sons, nephewsers, have been locked up for years at a time when often the circumstances do not warrant it. Host mike leigh talking about efforts to reform the criminal Justice System. Christopher in fulton, maryland, your next. What do you think . About the freddie gray case or the Justice System . Host both. Caller it is a terrible situation for america to be in but for the most part, the american Justice System is not justice for minorities, i would like to say. It is focused on keeping the american status quo, which is money at the top and the poor people at the bottom, confused and upset. Host richard, lake placid, florida. Welcome to the conversation. Caller good morning. The system has some serious problems. If a person is charged with a crime it goes to court. Without a lawyer he is going to receive a more harsher sentence than someone who has a lawyer, and that is because congress is made up of 50 lawyers. Another reason is because the incarceration system is their private enterprise. They need to make money so they do that by getting more and more inmates. Of course, the local politicians are more than happy to send people to jail for very minor crimes. We have some serious problems. Ere is another point it depends on your status in society. Many politicians and influential people will not go to jail, just like Hillary Clinton with all the thousands of confidential releasedon that was over public telephone or private telephone, not a secure line. She will not go to jail. Many other politicians that commit crimes will not go to jail. Look at the housing market. Thousands of bankers and market people corrupted the system and broke the law. I cannot remember any of them going to jail. We have a problem here. Do you know how to fix it . Host what do you think about efforts on capitol hill . I think what we need to do is clean house, that is what we need to do. There will never be Justice Without it. Host if you clean house, what happens to all the experience in by legislators who have made this issue their expertise . Stood on the Judiciary Committee and the have been there four years. They know this issue in and out. What happens if you clean house to that . Caller a clean house will have better judgment. The people will get a better deal. We need to put people in their , the the every in there everyday people, the tradespeople, the mechanics, carpenters, nurses, school teachers, bluecollar people that understand really what life is all about outside of the beltway, outside of washington. That is what we need. Michigan. N, warren, experience with the criminal Justice System. Caller i work at san quentin for decades and i noticed that human nature seems to dominate everything. You can have roles and procedures, but human nature dominates everything. With theproblem i had freddie gray, Michael Brown there is zero accountability for the individuals actions. You cannot blame the Justice System for that. Host james in missouri, good morning. Caller i just wanted to comment on what the gentleman just said in regards to how things are toward the money factor. It is pretty evident. It is obvious when you turn on the news, you see what is going on. People being indicted, knowing they are guilty of a charge and they get time off, probation, where a common person of middle unjustifiable. St ,s far as the freddie gray case all of them cannot be totally guilty of the murder of that man , but there is one person that should be accountable. That is all i have to say. Host we will get back to more of your thoughts. In other news, this is from the Washington Post. Sanders picks will help shape the party platform. Bernie sanders was given unprecedented say in a move that parties hopeful sue the bitter split with the challenger to Hillary Clinton, and sanders immediately used his new power to name a wellknown advocate for palestinian rights to help draft the legislation. Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be able to pick for test four. Nameur and sanders will five. It says in the Washington Post the possible committee is among them most popular theparty bodies platform is nonbinding, however, and president s have ignored parts of it in the past. Elijah cummings of maryland who will chair the committee named by Wasserman Schultz. Most others named by Wasserman Schultz and clinton are Party Stalwarts or when supporters. The Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Mcdonald compared the long lines at disneyland to the long lines that veterans experience. His remarks were called offensive and he does not view long wait times and secret wait lists as real problems in need of a fix. Commissioner john kosten and has declined to testify in his own defense today but says that viewed byling of a some House Republicans as a precursor to impeachment with the houses top investigators saying he defied a congressional order that demanded all former irs Senior Executive lois be preserved as part of an investigation into tea party targeting. That is happening today on capitol hill. Go to cspan. Org for more details about that hearing. We sat down with the irs commissioner recently on cspans newsmaker and he talked about this and irs taxes, etc. Go to cspan. Org for details on that. Also this morning, the New York TimesEditorial Board happy with the moves that congress is making. Congress is finally getting serious about hazardous chemicals in household products and industrial goods. The