U.S. justices voice support for criminal justice reform

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two members of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday voiced support for efforts in Congress to reform the American criminal justice system, criticizing the reliance on mandatory minimum sentences in recent decades and the penal system in general. Testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives panel about the court's annual budget, conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy and liberal Justice Stephen Breyer both spoke of problems with the system. Addressing the U.S. penal system, Kennedy said, "In many respects I think it's broken." Breyer said the move in recent decades toward mandatory minimum sentences - a policy that takes away discretion from judges and sometimes imposes long sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenders - was "a terrible idea." In February, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would abolish mandatory minimum sentences for certain non-violent drug offenders. March 23, 2015 at 05:38PM

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