Paul backs criminal justice reform, criticizes War on Drugs

DES MOINES - Rand Paul made a Martin Luther King Day campaign stop at a Des Moines barbershop on Monday, talking to employees and patrons about the need for criminal justice reform.

Paul, a Republican presidential candidate and U.S. senator from Kentucky, said he supports sentencing reform, restoring voting rights for convicted criminals who have served their time and been released and expunging criminal records to remove a barrier for rehabilitated criminals to get a job.

'Because I think, frankly, kids make mistakes, and they ought to get a second chance,” Paul said while discussing issues with people at Platinum Kutz, near the Drake University campus. 'I would say that I'm one of the few Republicans who actually has been very outspoken on trying to do something about criminal justice.”

Later, while addressing reporters, Paul said he thinks sentencing reform should include giving judges more discretion and addressing mandatory minimum sentences.

'I also think we need sentencing reform where people arens't going to jail for 15 and 20 years for youthful, non-violent mistakes,” Paul said, drawing applause from many of the people in the barbershop.

Paul said he has introduced roughly 10 bills in the U.S. Senate that address criminal justice reform, each of which has at least one Democratic co-sponsor. He said he will attempt to introduce some of those as amendments to sweeping reform legislation being shepherded through the chamber by Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

'I think we go way too far with the war on drugs,” Paul said. 'People want to be tougher and tougher. So everybody wants to act like they were tough on crime. But as a consequence, we ended up with a lot of injustice.”

Robert Presswood, the barbershop's owner, said he liked what he heard from Paul and is glad he and other presidential candidates are discussing criminal justice reform.

'That's real big for the young, black youth,” Presswood said. 'It's a big issue. Any time you got a person going to prison for 15, 20 years for a non-violent crime, it's ridiculous.”

Paul has been in the second tier of the expansive GOP presidential field. He was removed from the main group in the most recent Republican debate and, instead of participating in the secondary debate, did numerous media interviews and took an active role on social media.

Paul said he thinks the strategy maximized his exposure.

'Our preference would be to be in the debate and not have the (Republican) party exclude us. I think the party made a big mistake. I think they dealt us a dirty, rotten, no-good deal,” Paul said. 'But we made the best of it, and I think in the end, we probably had more coverage.”