July 6, 2009 11:46AM 

# Senator Webb: Time to reinvent criminal justice system 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

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Interesting article in today’s *Washington Post* on Senator Webb’s efforts to revamp the American criminal justice system. Here’s an excerpt:

> “I am, at bottom, a writer,” he says, invoking his default response. “I start with a theme, rather than a plot.” Webb wants to shape a plotline that, with each turn of the page, draws America closer to reinventing its criminal justice system. Questioning why the United States locks up so many of its youths, why its prisons swell with disease and atrocities while fundamental social problems persist in its streets, has earned Webb lavish praise as a politician unafraid to be smeared as soft on crime. And when a law-and-order type as rock-ribbed as Webb expresses willingness to consider legalizing or decriminalizing drugs, excitement follows.

Read the [whole thing](<"I am, at bottom, a writer," he says, invoking his default response. "I start with a theme, rather than a plot." Webb wants to shape a plotline that, with each turn of the page, draws America closer to reinventing its criminal justice system. Questioning why the United States locks up so many of its youths, why its prisons swell with disease and atrocities while fundamental social problems persist in its streets, has earned Webb lavish praise as a politician unafraid to be smeared as soft on crime. And when a law-and-order type as rock-ribbed as Webb expresses willingness to consider legalizing or decriminalizing drugs, excitement follows. >). Tomorrow Cato will be hosting a [Hill Briefing](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=6207) about federal drug policy. For additional Cato work, go [here](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=&pid=1441418) and [here](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080).

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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