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The legal system has a goal which states to promote fairness. This means that everyone will be fair in the law while keeping us safe. This is protected by the government being equal to the people

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Today the President will lay out the case for meaningful juvenile and criminal justice reform that makes our system, fairer, smarter and more cost-effective while keeping the American people safe and secure. Across the political spectrum, there is a growing consensus to make reforms to the juvenile and criminal justice systems to ensure that criminal laws are enforced more fairly and efficiently. Unwarranted disparities and unduly harsh sentences undermine trust in the rule of law and offend the basic principles of fairness and justice. In an era of limited resources and diverse threats, there is a public safety imperative to devote the resources of the criminal justice system to the practices that are most successful at deterring crime and protecting the public.

This Administration has taken a series of actions to enhance fairness and efficiency at all phases of the criminal justice system and to better address the vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. Now, it is time for Congress to act. Meaningful sentencing reform, steps to reduce repeat offenders and reform of the juvenile justice system are crucial to improving public safety, reducing runaway incarceration costs and making our criminal justice system more fair.

In April 2014, the President established a clemency initiative to encourage individuals sentenced under outdated laws and policies to petition for commutation. The President has now granted 89 commutations to individuals serving time in federal prison. Had they been sentenced under current laws and policies, many of these individuals would have already served their time and paid their debt to society. Because many were convicted under an outdated sentencing regime, they served years - in some cases more than a decade - longer than would individuals convicted today of the same crime. At his direction, significant reforms have followed, such as the promulgation of new criteria for potential commutation candidates. In addition, the Department of Justice has raised awareness about how to petition for commutation to ensure that every federal inmate who believes they are deserving of this invaluable second chance has the opportunity to ask for it. The President has now granted more commutations than the previous four presidents combined and has granted more than any president since Lyndon Johnson.

In 2010, the President signed the Fair Sentencing Act, bipartisan legislation that eased the disparity in the amounts of powder cocaine and crack cocaine required to trigger certain penalties in the federal system, including rigid mandatory minimum sentences.

In 2010, then-Attorney General Eric Holder reversed the Department of Justice's previous charging policy - known as the "Ashcroft memo" - that required prosecutors to always charge crimes with the severest possible sentence, and instead instructed that cases should be charged based on the individual circumstances of the offense.

In August 2013, the Department of Justice launched the "Smart on Crime" initiative, revising its charging policies to avoid triggering excessive mandatory minimums for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Since the launch of the initiative, data has shown that prosecutors are being more selective and focusing on more serious cases with a positive impact on prosecutions.

The Department of Justice encourages judicial districts to adopt "diversion" and drug court programs that prioritize treatment instead of incarceration in order to ease our overburdened prison system and reduce recidivism.

In 2010, the Department of Justice issued unprecedented rules to provide criminal defendants with broad, comprehensive pre-trial evidence - more than the law requires.

As part of the Access to Justice Initiative launched in 2010, the Department has been engaging with a wide variety of new partners - including state, local, tribal, and federal officials, nonprofit organizations, researchers, and experts from across the private sector - to expand research and funding support for the delivery of indigent defense services and to protect the Sixth Amendment guarantee to effective assistance of counsel.

In May 2014, the Department announced that its federal agents would be required to videotape interrogations of detained individuals in order to ensure suspects' civil rights are respected during all interviews.

In September 2014, a new Department-wide policy was put in place that directed federal prosecutors to no longer require, as a part of plea agreements, that defendants waive their right to appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel.

In December 2014, the Department issued updated profiling guidance that, among other things, expanded the prohibition to religion, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity and was applicable to state and local law enforcement agencies working on federal task forces.

Last month, Congress introduced the bi-partisan Second Chance Reauthorization Act which includes language that would codify the Reentry Council and institutionalize this work over the long term. Since 2009, more than 600 Second Chance Act grant awards have been made to state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations across 49 states to help incarcerated adults and youth rejoin their communities and become productive, law abiding citizens.

Key Reentry Council Milestones:

Reducing Policy Barriers to Employment and Education

In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued historic anti-discrimination guidance recommending that employers avoid blanket bans on job applicants with a criminal history because of the potential disparate impact on people of color. The guidance states a criminal record should only bar someone from employment when the conviction is closely related to the job, after considering (1) the nature of the job, (2) the nature and seriousness of the offense, and (3) the length of time since it occurred.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) built on the EEOC policy with (a) guidance geared to the public workforce system, and (b) a directive for federal contractors about their obligations regarding the use of criminal records as an employment screen. DOL also launched the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release (LEAP) program, a pilot initiative that provides specialized services to prepare incarcerated individuals for employment and increase their opportunities for successful reentry upon release.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sent a letter to public housing authorities in 2011 encouraging them to allow people with criminal records to rejoin their families in public housing programs, when appropriate.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) developed a best practices guide regarding contractor applicants who support Federal agencies.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed to amend their eligibility rules for MicroLoans, so that people on probation and parole are not automatically excluded.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken cases and published documents for job seekers about their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act when it comes to background checks.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Education issued a letter to campus financial aid professionals to clarify that otherwise eligible youth who are confined in juvenile justice facilities are eligible to receive Federal Pell Grants.

Addressing Collateral Consequences of a Conviction

NIJ (prior to the Council's formation) funded a project with the American Bar Association which identified 46,000 statutes and regulations that impose collateral consequences on those with a conviction, creating barriers to employment, housing, benefits, and voting. In 2011, then-AG Holder wrote to every state Attorney General, asking them to assess their state's statutes and policies to determine if any should be eliminated.

In 2013, DOJ directed leadership across the Department to take collateral consequences into account when proposing any new regulation or guidance.

Increasing Reentry Service Access to Incarcerated Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) revised its administrative polices that limited VA prison outreach to the six months prior to release. Reentry assessment and planning can now begin day one, thus enhancing the odds of successful reentry. The VA also expanded eligibility for its health care services to those who are in halfway house settings and built a web-based system that allows prison, jail, and court staff to quickly and accurately identify Veterans among their populations.

From 2009 through 2014, the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office has funded the addition of nearly 10,000 community policing officers across the country.

In fiscal year 2014, the Department of Justice provided $276 million of critical Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding to state, local and tribal governments. The JAG Program is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions and supports a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution and court programs, prevention and education programs, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, crime victim and witness initiatives, and planning, evaluation and technology improvement programs.

The Department of Justice announced earlier this year a $263 million initiative to expand funding and training to law enforcement agencies to advance community policing initiatives. The proposal includes a $75 million investment over three years that could help purchase 50,000 body-worn cameras. In May 2015, the Office of Justice Programs announced a $20 million solicitation to help law enforcement agencies purchase body-worn cameras, and its Bureau of Justice Assistance released an online toolkit to help communities implement body-worn camera programs.

In December 2014, the President created a Task Force on 21st Century Policing to strengthen trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve and protect while enhancing public safety. The Administration is working with federal agencies, law enforcement organizations, civil rights organizations and state and local government to promote the adoption of the Task Force's recent recommendations by the approximately 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies around the country.

In March 2015, the Administration launched the Police Data Initiative to encourage law enforcement agencies around the country to publicly release data that they had not previously released concerning stops and searches, uses of force, officer involved shootings, citations, complaints and other police actions. Already, two dozen agencies have agreed to release new data and participate in a peer-learning network to share successful innovations. For example, Seattle, WA hosted a workshop for law enforcement agencies to dive deeply into technology and data issues around body worn cameras. Dallas, TX opened twelve years of detailed officer-involved-shooting data with crucial context about why the Chief of Police is releasing the data, how such incidents are investigated, and what the police department is doing to reduce deadly force incidents. And, New Orleans, LA is pre-releasing police data sets to a group of young coders from under-represented communities who are providing feedback on the data and prototyping tools that will improve citizen access to this data. The Police Data Initiative is also helping Departments across the country better leverage data and technology, such as early warning systems and enhanced body camera analytics, to identify problems, increase internal accountability, and decrease inappropriate uses of force.

The Violence Reduction Network (VRN) is a meaningful approach to violence reduction that brings together city police departments with Justice Department law enforcement and grant-making components to reduce violence in some of the country's most violent cities. DOJ works in partnership with police chiefs, researchers and other local partners on effective approaches to accomplishing their violence reduction strategies. VRN is currently partnering with Camden, NJ; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Oakland/Richmond, CA and Wilmington, DE and will expand to other cities this year.

DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services' Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance improves trust between police agencies and the communities they serve by providing a means to organizational transformation around specific issues. Agencies selected to participate must demonstrate a commitment to address the recommendations and undertake significant reform efforts. Collaborative Reform efforts have already been completed in Las Vegas, NV, which served as the pilot site for the program, and work continues in locations such as Philadelphia, PA; Spokane, WA; St. Louis County, MO; Fayetteville, NC; Salinas, CA and Calexico, CA.

The National Initiative for Building Trust and Justice was launched in September 2014 as a multi-faceted approach to help strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve by promoting procedural justice, reducing implicit bias and supporting racial reconciliation. The National Initiative is working intensively in Birmingham (AL), Fort Worth (TX), Gary (IN), Minneapolis (MN), Pittsburgh (PA) and Stockton (CA), and is providing technical assistance to localities that are not official demonstration sites.

In January 2015, the President created the Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group to identify actions that can improve Federal support for the acquisition of controlled equipment by law enforcement agencies (LEAs). In May 2015, the President received and accepted the recommendations from the Working Group which among other things: created a prohibited equipment list LEAs will no longer be able to acquire from the federal government; provided a consistent Government-wide controlled equipment list; standardized Federal procedures governing provision of controlled equipment and ensured that LEAs have proper policies and training in place regarding the appropriate use of controlled equipment. The recommendations will be implemented by the beginning of Fiscal Year 2016.

In 2009, President Obama directed the Justice Department to launch the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention which brings together a network of communities and federal agencies to reduce youth violence and gang activity, share information, build local capacity and improve public safety.

In January 2014, the Departments of Education and Justice released guidance to schools aimed at increasing school discipline policies that support improved behavior in students while minimizing the school to prison pipeline.

In June 2014, the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention announced a suite of Smart on Juvenile Justice grants focused on implementing juvenile justice reforms to maximize cost savings and strategically reinvest the savings while supporting statewide system change.

In December 2014, the Departments of Education and Justice released guidance aimed at providing high-quality educational programming in juvenile justice secure care settings.

My Brother's Keeper Initiative: Reducing violence and providing a second chance is a core goal of the President's My Brother's Keeper initiative, and it has been a significant focus of the policy and community-based work taking place. Efforts to act in this area have included a wide array of policy guidance, grant programs, national forums and task forces to raise awareness and seek solutions to violence and incarceration. Also, as part of the My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge a place-based initiative where more than 200 communities have committed to implementing cradle-to-college and career strategies to tackle opportunity gaps, more than forty communities have committed to developing strategies to ensure all youth remain safe from violent crime. Some examples include:

In Washington, DC, the local partners leading the My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge process on behalf of the City, has created a partnership with the D.C. police department to provide trainings for officers before they leave the academy, focused on how to engage with young people in the community.

Indianapolis, IN has committed to provide training for all criminal justice partners: police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, probation, parole and community corrections on racial bias and disparities in order to improve cultural competence of the system. They have also joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), a bipartisan movement for juvenile justice reinvestment-the reallocation of government resources away from mass incarceration and toward investment in youth, families, and communities.

In Philadelphia, PA the First Judicial District, the Philadelphia School District, the Police Department and the Department of Human Services seek to deliver a 50 percent reduction in the number of children arrested, and to eliminate the racial disparity in these arrests and other school-based disciplinary actions. Their plan, the School Diversion Program, allows students who have committed first time low-level delinquent acts on school premises to enter intensive prevention services rather than face arrest.

In Boston, MA Mayor Martin J. Walsh with the support of The Boston Foundation announced the launch of a strategic and comprehensive city-wide public safety plan. They pledged $3.1 million in funding for this effort over three years, which allowed for the integration of the StreetSafe program into a citywide expansion of on-the-ground outreach to youth at risk of violent crime, in coordination with the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Mayor's Public Safety Initiative.

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FACT SHEET: Enhancing the Fairness and Effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System

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Today the President will lay out the case for meaningful juvenile and criminal justice reform that makes our system, fairer, smarter and more cost-effective while keeping the American people safe and secure. Across the political spectrum, there is a growing consensus to make reforms to the juvenile and criminal justice systems to ensure that criminal laws are enforced more fairly and efficiently.

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In our legal system, one goal is to represent the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority. This rule explains how people can make political decisions as a majority rule while minority rights are given to everyone. We are all given freedom of speech which helps the goal stay protected.

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This essay has been submitted by a law student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers.

Democracy is a way of government of the people which is ruled by the people. Democracies understand the importance of protecting the rights, cultural identities, social practices, and religious practices of all individuals. In order for the people's will to govern, a system of majority rule with respect to minority rights has been put into place.

Majority rule is a way of organizing government where citizens freely make political decisions through voting for representatives. The representatives with the most votes then represent the will of the people through majority rule. Minority rights are rights that are guaranteed to everyone, even if they are not a part of the majority. These rights cannot be de eliminated by a majority vote. Minorities must trust that the majority will keep in mind the wishes of the minority when making decisions that affect everyone. The minority today will not necessarily be the minority of tomorrow.

The concept of majority rule and respect for minority rights is demonstrated in several places in the Constitution. The first three Articles in the Constitution identify how the people will elect representatives into the Congress and how those elected officials will then elect officials into the judicial and executive branches, thus giving direct and indirect representation to the majority. The articles also identify the duties of three separate branches of the government, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. While each branch has its own duties; they are dependent on each other. It is the duty of the legislative branch to create a law. The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting that law and determining if it if Constitutional or not. The executive branch can veto the law, which then sends the legislative branch back to the drawing board. The above example not only shows how each branch is separate but related, it also shows how the different branches act as a check and balance system for one another. It is through the checks and balances system that the framers ensured that each branch would be fair and efficient.

The Constitution also demonstrates majority rule and respect for minority rights through Article V of the Constitution which explains that the Constitution can be amended in two ways. The first way is through the Congress passing a proposal, with a two-thirds vote, to the states to ratify. The amendment is ratified when approved by three-fourths of the states. The other way is through a national convention. This is where two-thirds of the states petition Congress to propose amendments. The proposal still has to receive a three-fourths vote by the states. This Article allows the people to make changes to the Constitution throughout time as the majority and minority positions change.

Two other places the Constitution addresses majority rule and minority rights are in Article VI of the Constitution and the First Amendment. Article VI ensures that the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties take precedence over state laws. This Article binds all judges to abide to the same principles in court. This Article ensured that the majority rule of the nation trumped the majority will of the individual states. The First Amendment gives all citizens basic rights. It is through these rights that the minority stays protected. The right to free speech and the right to assemble allow the minority to be heard, which gives them the opportunity to grow and become the majority.

There are several instances in which the concept of majority rule with respect to minority rights has played a significant factor in American government and policy. One example is the case of Plessy v. Ferguson 1896. In this case Homer Plessy, a man who appeared white, but was one-eighth black, was arrested in Louisiana for sitting on the white railroad car and refusing to move to the black railroad car (Zimmerman, 1997). According to Louisiana law, all persons with a black blood line, regardless of how small, were to be considered black and must be segregated from the white people. After being released from prison, Plessy took his case to the US Supreme Court. The court decided that there could be segregation as long as long as it was of equal standards. This case demonstrates the will of the majority to allow for segregation as well as protecting the minority by requiring "equal standards".

The next example of majority rule with respect to minority rights challenges the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, KS 1954. This historic case dismantled the segregation that was allowed in the Plessy case (Brown v. Board of Education). The Brown case involved 13 minority parents and their children who were denied access to a school closer to their home because of segregation laws. The case showed that the separate schools were in fact not equal. The case also showed that the segregation laws were a violation under the Equal Protection Clause. This case demonstrates how the minorities do have a voice, and the majority taking on their responsibility to also protect and serve the minority. This case was also the catalyst for social change in the United States towards the treatment of non-whites, this social change was the beginning of the minority becoming the majority.

Majority rule with respect to minority rights is vital to a democratic government. This process allows for citizens to maintain individual rights while following the direction of the majority. It also allows for the citizens to make changes to the laws as society, the majorities, and the minorities change.

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This essay has been submitted by a law student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Democracy is a way of government of the people which is ruled by the people. Democracies understand the importance of protecting the rights, cultural identities, social practices, and religious practices of all individuals.

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A goal in our legal system is to protect human rights. Article 2 of the Human Rights Act explains how every human has the right to live. The legal system protects this goal by providing us with security.

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The right to life means that nobody - including the government - can try to end your life. It also means the government should take appropriate steps to safeguard life.