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Don't Let the Robert Kraft Charges Derail the Importance of Criminal Justice Reform

Photo credit: Courtesy
Photo credit: Courtesy

From Esquire

You're going to read a lot in the coming days and weeks about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was charged Friday with solicitation of a prostitute. Some of those reports may mention Kraft's vocal support of criminal justice reform, specifically his work with the REFORM Alliance, an organization he founded in January with Meek Mill, Jay-Z, and others, whose names might be disingenuously linked to the charges against Kraft. The effect, intentionally or not, may unfairly discredit discredit that organization and the work it's doing to free many people-often those of color-from a system that is unequivocally broken. Others will simply use the allegations as a lazy punchline (as some on Twitter have already done).

But the charge against Robert Kraft doesn't change the importance of the cause for which he and others are fighting. A spokesperson for REFORM told Esquire it's aware of the allegations against Kraft, adding that the organization "takes pride in ensuring that everyone is treated as innocent until proven guilty and these circumstances are no different."

Kraft is a REFORM board member and has contributed money to the cause. He's also made himself a vocal proponent of criminal justice reform. The billionaire adopted this role as an unlikely face for prison reform after visiting rapper Meek Mill in a Philadelphia prison in 2018. Meek was set to be locked up for "two to four years" for violating his probation-he was arrested for popping a wheelie in New York City-even though the charges against him had already been dropped.

"I’ve never been to jail before. Going there and seeing him, I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night when I got home," Kraft said at an event in January introducing REFORM.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 6.6 million Americans are currently tied up in our criminal justice system, across jail, prison, probation, and parole. Some of these individuals have served their time; some have yet to be formally charged. All of them, and all of us, are affected by the way our nation handles both the suspects and the convicted.

Photo credit: Kevin Mazur - Getty Images
Photo credit: Kevin Mazur - Getty Images

Here are some more facts: The United States is, by far, the most incarcerated country on the planet. According to the Hamilton Project, our corrections system costs American taxpayers over $80 billion every year-far more than any other country. And while we seem to be more divided than ever as a nation, criminal justice reform is one of the few topics that both Republicans and Democrats have been able to agree upon in the Trump era.

Widely considered the most significant criminal justice reform legislation in years, President Trump signed the First Step Act into law to bipartisan support in December. The act gives convicted nonviolent offenders the opportunity for early release, and eases mandatory minimums on sentencing at the federal level.

It's highly unlikely-verging on impossible-that Kraft helped establish the organization because he was allegedly conducting criminal acts himself, but the charges threaten to undercut a crucial topic in America today. We shouldn't let that happen.

If you take away anything from the coming saga of the charges against Robert Kraft and others who were allegedly soliciting the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, it should be a focus on the women who may be victims of an abominable human trafficking operation. (Of the roughly one million sex workers in America, it's unclear how many are unwilling participants due to the illegal nature of the job.) It should be about the additional need to reexamine the way we treat sex work and sex workers in the United States.

Photo credit: Tim Bradbury - Getty Images
Photo credit: Tim Bradbury - Getty Images

But it does not take away from the need to fix our broken criminal justice system. That will continue to matter, with or without Robert Kraft.

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