Yusef-Andre Wiley argues that criminal justice reform needs more than policy change: it needs people who have genuinely transformed to prove it works. He witnessed the prison system's explosive growth in the 1980s-1990s and saw how inadequate public defense and racial bias trap people of color. Without visible examples of reformed individuals, he says, reform stays abstract.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Yeah, getting ready for these holidays. I hope everyone is enjoying their time with their families and loved ones. You know, enjoy, please enjoy this time that we have, this little break. Our kids is out from school, home with the parents. Um, you know, enjoy this time that we have together. Um, criminal justice reform, this is a subject that's been talked about quite quite a bit. And you know, Yusef-Andre Wiley Consultants, we definitely firm believers in criminal justice reform. We, we lived through it. We watched the, the, the expansion of the prison industrial complex, you know, mass incarceration. We lived through it. Um, the 1980s and '90s, we witnessed a number of prisons being built while we were there. And in fact, being transferred from prison to prison ourselves. As they opened and built a new prison. And you know, the mess and the crap that went along with that. So we definitely believe in criminal justice reform. But we also believe in human transformation. People do change, people do reform. This is the key, you know. I believe that, you know, in order for us to really truly have a voice and to really have an argument as it relates to criminal justice reform, There has to be more people like us that's demonstrated this reform and this transformation. You know, why have criminal justice reform when people are still committing crime, a lot of crime? And, you know, we know that the injustices that come through trial and the lack of support through the public defenders, you know, branch of government, whatever, whatever the reason is that people are being railroaded, and we know a lot of it is racism, we know a lot of it is just removed people of color from the community and just the domination of, you know, the quote-unquote, what we call the white supremacy within our schools and everywhere. You know, it's just, it's crazy. We have to be the ones that's truly changing in order for criminal justice reform to work. I mean, simple.
