I find that people want aggressive policing if they as a community feel they are part of it. They don't want aggressive policing if they feel it's being imposed upon them and they are a target.
Almost one in three Americans has had some contact with the criminal justice system. When you reach that saturation point, people begin to understand, in a very visceral way, the difficulties of reentry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the pervasive nature of the criminal justice system in American life and its impact on societal understanding of reentry challenges.
Loretta Lynch emphasizes that a significant portion of the American population has interacted with the criminal justice system, leading to a broader awareness of the complexities those individuals face when reintegrating into society. As these interactions increase, society starts to recognize the systemic barriers and personal hardships faced by those trying to rebuild their lives after incarceration. This understanding is crucial in fostering empathy and driving reforms for a more just system.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting discussing criminal justice reform, this quote can illustrate the importance of awareness regarding reentry challenges.
More from Loretta Lynch
All quotes →What we must not do - what we must never do - is turn on our neighbors, our family members, our fellow Americans, for something they cannot control, and deny what makes them human.
Often, we do not know where our choices will take us. This is why the best choices are often made based not on what they can bring to us, but what they will allow us to bring to others.
What I have realized is I cannot guarantee the absence of discrimination or hatred or prejudice, but I can guarantee the presence of justice.
The power to arrest - to deprive a citizen of liberty - must be used fairly, responsibly, and without bias.
Whether it is tribalism, racism, xenophobia, or anti-Muslim backlash we're talking about, we spend so much time and energy fighting ways to divide ourselves from others.
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After decades of persistent, courageous advocacy - often at risk to their own lives, livelihoods, and safety - African Americans succeeded in securing their right to a voice in our government, and their work laid the foundation for the social justice work of generations to follow.
I am more optimistic though, that this court will eventually conclude that the effort to eliminate arbitrariness while preserving fairness in the infliction of [death] is so plainly doomed to failure that is - and the death penalty - must be abandoned altogether. I may not live to see that day, but I have faith that eventually it will arrive.
Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws - to perpetuate injustice through inaction.
I understood at a young age that administrations come and go, but laws stay. So I decided to become a lawyer in order to help create a more just and peaceful world, not just in a fleeting moment but in a way that will endure from one generation to the next.
There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.
What does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all other Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights say, what the Four Freedoms establish. While he knows these ideals are open to no man completely, he wants only his equal chance to obtain them.