Which Side Will Take Lead In Criminal Justice Reform?

The current consensus from both sides of the aisle is that juvenile justice, or rather known in its more blanketed term, child welfare, does not work.

The goal is to reform the criminal justice system, but how.

On the Republican side the push is for privatization through charities.  These charities are Christian-based who will then operate to maximize revenue, as not-for-profits may not profit.

The programs will be designed to tap into Medicaid Expansion and other federal social welfare billing streams for social investment initiatives on Wall Street and to use human capital as cheap labor, subsidized through social welfare programs.

On the Democratic side the push is to change social policies of what Christians consider as 'moral turpitude' as a civil rights initiative.

So far, the Republican playbook for implementation of criminal justice reform is extremely sophisticated with networks in place.

The Democratic message is convoluted with disjointed planning in under assuaged messaging.

Obama meets with lawmakers on criminal justice reform

The bipartisan group of 16 lawmakers included Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), two rising Republican stars who have backed reforms meant to reduce the number of adults in prison. They were joined by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who have proposed moderate changes to the mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug crimes.

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President Obama met with some leading congressional proponents of criminal justice reform on Tuesday.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the Democrat sponsoring a significant update to the nation's primary law dictating how to treat minors in custody, was also in attendance.

Notably absent from the meeting was Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who along with Whitehouse is the sponsor of a major prison reform bill, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and who is backing the juvenile justice bill.

Grassley was the only top member of either the House or Senate judiciary committees not to attend. House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and ranking member Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) attended the meeting, as did Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

At a time when congressional Republicans and the White House are at loggerheads over several issues, the meeting was another sign that there is some level of bipartisan agreement that changes must be made to federal criminal justice policies.

But what form those reforms might takes remains in question. Some in Congress want reforms made to the mandatory minimums, while others — like Cornyn and Grassley — have expressed a preference for other prison reforms that do not change the drug sentences.

The administration has indicated that it would be open to a range of possibilities.

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