Testimony of The Honorable Patricia M. Wald On Behalf of the American Bar Association

In 2003, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a speech at the ABA Annual Meeting, challenged the legal profession to begin a new public dialogue about American sentencing and corrections policies and practices. He raised fundamental questions about the fairness and efficacy of a justice system that disproportionately imprisons minorities, and then returns them to their communities in worse shape than they left it.