and structural inequal inequalities that compounded over generations and it did not happen by accident. it's the result of of continuing is sometimes more subtle bigitiry whether who gets called back for a job interview or who gets suspended from school or a neighborhood you are able to rent an apartment in which is why our initiative to strengthen fair housing laws is so important. so we can't be satisfied until the opportunity is gapped for everybody in america. everybody. but today i want to focus on one aspect of american life.

that remains particularly skewed. by race. and by wealth. a source of inequity that has a ripple effect on families and communities and ultimately on our nation and that is our criminal justice system. this is not a new topic i know that sometimes folks discover these things like it just happened. there is a long history of inequity in the criminal justice system in america. when i was in the state legislature in illinois we worked to make sure we had video taping of interrogations because

there were some problems there we set up racial profiling laws to prevent the coined of bias in traffic stops that too many people experience. since my first campaign i talked about in too many cases the criminal justice system becomes a pipeline from underfunded schools to crowded jails what has changed though is that in recent years the eyes of more americans have been opened to this truth. partly because of cameras. partly because of tragedy. partly because the statistics

cannot be ignored. we can't close our eyes anymore. and the good news and this is truly good news is that good people of all political persuasions are starting to think we need to do something about this. so lets look at the statistics, the united states is home to 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's prisoners. think about that. our incarceration rate is four times higher than china's. >> we keep more people behind bars than the top 35 european countries combined. it hasn't always been the case.

this huge explosion in incarceration rates. in 1980 there were 5,000 people behind bars in america half a million people in 1980, i was in college in 1980. many of you were not born in 1980 that is okay. i remember 1980, 500,000, today there are 2.2 million, it has quadrupled since 1980, our prison population has doubled in the last two decades alone. now, we need to be honest there are a lot of folks that belong in prison. if we are going to deal with this problem, and the inequities involved then we have to speak honestly there are folks who

need to be in jail. they may have had terrible things happen to them in their lives. we hold out the hope for redemption but they have done some bad things murders. predators rapists, gang leaders drug king pins. we need some of those folks behind bars. our communities are safer thanks to brave police officers and hard working prosecutors who put the violent criminals in jail. and the studies show that up to a certain point tougher prosecutors and stiffer sentences for these violent offenders contributed to the decline in violent crime over the last few decades, but the science also indicates that you get a point of diminishing

returns. but it is important to recognize that violence in our communities are serious and that the african-american communities are often times underpolices rather than overpoliced. within those areas there was not enough police presence. but here is the thing over the last few decades we have locked up more and more non-violent drug offenders than ever before for longer than ever before and that is the real reason our prison population is so high.

in far too many cases the punishment does not fit the crime. if you are a low level criminal you owe a debt to society, you have to be held accountable and make amends. but you don't owe 20 years you don't owe a life sentence. that's disproportionate to the price that should be paid. and by the way the taxpayers are picking up the tab for that price. every year we spend $80 billion to keep folks incarcerated.

for $80 billion, we could have universal preschool for every 3-year-old and 4-year-old in america. that is what $80 billion buys or double the salary of every high school teacher in america. we could finance new rods and bridges and airports and john row training programs and research and development. we are about to get into a big budget debate in washington, what i what i couldn't do with $80 billion, it's a lot of money for what we spend to keep everybody locked up for one year we could eliminate tuition at everyone of our public colleges and universities.

>> as republican senator and presidential candidate, ran paul has said and to his credit he is consistent on this issue. imprisoning large amounts of non-violent offenders costs money but does not make it safer. one-third of the budget now goes to incarceration. and there are excellent outstanding people in our justice department, starting with loretta lynch and we have great prosecutors here today and they do outstanding work so many

of them but every tlar they have to spend keeping non-violent drug offenders in prison is a dollar they can't spend going after drug king pins or tracking down terrorists or hiring more police or giving them the resources that could allow them to do a more effect job policing. and of course the costs that can't be measured in dollars and cents. because the statistics on who gets incarcerated show that by a wide margin it disproportionately impacts communities of color. >> african-americans and latino make up 30% of our population and make up 60% of our inmates. about one in every 35 african-american men and one in

every 88 latino men is serving time right now. among white men that is one in 214. the bottom line is in too many places black boys and black men latino boys and latino men experience being treated differently under the law. lets be clear this is not just anecdote, not just barbershop talk, a growing body of research show that people of color are more likely to be stopped, frisks and questioned and charged and detained. african-americans are more likely to be arrested and more likely to be sentenced to more

time for the same crime. one of the consequences of this is around 1 million fathers are behind bars. around one in nine african-american kids have a parent in prison. what is that doing to our communities? what is that doing to those children? our nation is being robbed of men and women that could be workers and taxpayers. and could be role models and community leaders and right now they are locked up for a none non-violent offense. our criminal justice systems not as smart as it should be.

not keeping us as safe as it should be not as fair as it should be. mass incarceration makes our country worse off and we need to do something about it. [ applause ] but here is the good news. good news. don't get me preaching now. i am feeling more hopeful today because even now when lets face it, it seems like republicans and democrats cannot agree on anything. a lot of them agree on this. in fact, today back in washington, republican senators from utah and texas are joining democratic senators from new jersey and rhode island to talk

about how congress can pass meaningful criminal justice reform this year. [ applause ] that is good news. that is good news. good news. that doesn't happen very often. and it's not just senators. this is a cause that brings people in both houses of congress together. it's created some unlikely bed fellows. and you have got van jones and newt gingrich and you got americans for tax reforms in the aclu and the naacp and the coke brothers now you got to give them credit. got to call it like you see it.

there are states from texas and south carolina to california and connecticut whos have acted to reduce their prison populations over the last five years and seen their crime rates fall. [ applause ] that is good news. my administration has taken steps on our own to reduce our own federal prison population, i signed a bill reducing the 101 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and commuted sentences for people sentenced under old drug laws and now i'm commuting dozens more. [ applause ] under the leadership of attorney general eric holder now continued by loretta lynch

federal prosecutors got what he got smart on crime that is refocusing on the worst offenders and pursuing mandatory minimum sentences 20% less often than they did the year before. the idea is you don't always have to charge the max to be a good prosecutor, you need to be proportionate. and it turns out that we are solving just as many cases just as many plea bargains and it's working and we have eliminated some of the excess. and recently something extraordinary happened. for the first time in 40 years america's crime rate and incarceration rate went down at the same time. that happened last year. so there is some momentum

building for reform there is evidence mowning for why we need reform. and i want to spend the rest of my time just laying out some basic principles and ideas for what reform should look like, we are at the beginning of this progress and we have to make shower we stay with it. in the community and the courtroom and in the cell block. so i want to begin with the community because i believe crime is like any other epidemic the best time to stop it is before it starts. and i'm go ahead and say what i said 100 times before or 1,000 times before and what you have heard me say before. if we make investments early in our children we will reduce it's need to incarcerate those

kids. [ applause ] so one study found that for every dollar we invest in pre-k save at least twice that down the rod in reduced crime and getting a teenager a job for the summer costs a fraction of what it costs to lock him up for so 15 years. investing in our communities makes sense it saves taxpayer money, if we are consistent about it. and if we recognize that every child deserves opportunity not just some, not just our own. [ applause ] what doesn't make sense is treating entire neighborhoods as little more than danger zones where we just surround them, we ask police to go in there and do

the tough job of trying to contain the hopelessness when we are not willing to make the investments to help lift the communities out of hopelessness that is not just a police problem that is a societal problem. places like west philadelphia or west baltimore or ferguson missouri, they are part of america too. they are not separate. they are part of america like anywhere else, the kids there are american kids just like your kids and my kids we have to make sure boys and girls in those communities are loved and cherished and supported and nurtured and invested in and we have to have the same standards for those children as we have for our own children.

if you are a parent, there are times where boys and girls act out in school, are we letting principals and parents deal with one set of kids and call the police on another set of kids, that is not the right thing to do. [ applause ] we have to make shower our juvenile justice system know that kids are different, don't just tag them as future criminals refer out to them as future citizens. [ applause ] and even as we recognize the police officers do one of toughest, bravest jobs around and we do everything in our

power to keep the police officers safe on the job i have talked about this, we have to restore trust between the police and communities where they serve and a good place to start is making sure that communities around the country adopt the recommendations from the task force i set up including law enforcement but included young people from new york and ferguson and they were able to arrive at a consensus around things like better training better data collection and to make shower that policing is more effective and more accountable but is also more unbiassed. so these are steps in the community that will lead to fewer folks being arrested in the first place they won't eliminate crime entirely there is going to be crime and the second place we need to change

is in the courtroom. for non-violent drug crimes we need to lower long maximum minimum sentences or get rid of them entirely and give judges discretion around non-violent crimes so we can potentially steer a young person that made a mistake in the right direction. we want to put the bill through congress this year, and ask prutsers to use their discretion to seek the best punishment the one that is most effective instead of the longest punishment. we should invest in alternatives to prison like drug courts and treatment and probation programs which ultimately can save taxpayers thousands of

dollars per defendant each year. now even if we are locking up fewer people even if we are reformingentenceing guidelines, some criminals deserve to go to jail and virtually all the people incarcerated in our prisons will eventually, some day be released and that is why the third place we need reform is in the cell block. so on thursday i will be the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. [ applause ]

and i'm going to shine a spotlight on this issue because people make mistakes and sometimes big mistakes they are also americans. and we have to make shower that as they do their time and pay back their debt to society, that we are increasing the possibility that they can turn their lives around. [ applause ] that doesn't mean that we will turn everybody's life around that doesn't mean there aren't some hard cases but that it means we want to be in a position if something in the midst of imprisonments

recognizes the error of their ways and is in the process of reflecting about where they have been and where they should be going we have to make sure they are in a position to make the turn. and that is why we should not tolerate conditions in prison that have no place in any civilized country. we should not be tolerating overcrowding in prison we should not be tolerating gang activity in prison and not tolerating rape in prison and making jokes about it in our popular culture, that is no joke those things are unacceptable. [ applause ] what is more i asked my attorney general to start the review of

solitairy confinement across our prison the social science shows an environment like that is more likely to make inmates more alienated and more hostile and potentially more violent. do we think it makes sense to leave so many people alone in tiny cells for hours a day and months at a time and sometimes years at a time that will not make us safer and not make us stronger. if those individuals are ultimately released how are they ever going to adapt. it's not smart. our prison should be a place where we can train people for skills that can help them find a job, not train them to be more

hardened criminals. and look i don't want to pretend like this is all easy. but some places doing better than others montgomery county maryland, put a job training center inside of the prison walls to give folk a head start in thinking about what might you do otherwise than committing crime, that is a good idea. here is another good idea one with bipartisan support in congress lets reward prisoners with reduced sentences if they complete a program. and invest in programs that link former prisoners with employers and help them stay on track. lets follow the growing number

of our state and cities and private companies who have decided to ban the box and job applications so former prisoners that have done their time and now trying to get straight with society have a decent shot at a job interview. and if folks have served their time and they have reentered society they should be able to vote. [ applause ] communities give our kids every shot at success courts that are tough but fair and prisons recognize that the majority will

be released so seek to prepare the returning citizens to grab the second chance that is where we need to build. but i want to add this we can't ask our police or prosecutors or prison guards or judges to bear the entire burden of containing and controlling problems that the rest of us are not facing up to and willing to do something about. so yes we have to stan up to those that are determined to slash invest manies at any cost, cutting prescol programs and job programs and community policing programs that is short-sighted, those investments make this country strong and we have to invest in opportunity more than ever. an african-american man born 25

years ago has a one in two chance of being employed today and one in three african-american children are growing newspaper poverty. when the unemployment rate was 5.9% and it was going up we properly recognizes this was a crisis right now the unemployment rate for african-americans is 9.5%. what should we call that? it's a crisis we have to be concerned about continuing to lift up job opportunities for those young people. so today i'm talking about the criminal justice system and we have to recognize that it's not something we can view in isolation, any system that turns a blind eye to justice and

despair is not a just system. that is a reflection of some broader decisions that we are making as a society. and that has to change. that has to change. what the marches on washington new what the marchers in selma knew and folks like julian bond knew and what the marchers in this room still know, is that justice is not only the absence of oppression, but the presence of opportunity. justice is giving every child a shot at a great education no matter what zip code they are born into. and giving everyone that is willing to work hard a good job and good wages regardless of what their name is and their skin color is.

where they live. 50 years after the voting rights act justice is protecting that right for americans and living up to the common creed i am my brothers coper and my sister's keeper, that everybody is special and their lives matter not because they heard it in a hashtag but because of love they feel every single day not just love from their parents, not just love from their neighborhoods, but love from police, love from politicians love from somebody who lives on the other side of the country but says that young person is still important to me. that is what justice is. and in the american tradition and in the immigrant tradition

of remaking ourselves in the christian tradition that says none of us is without sin, and all of us need redemption justice and redemption go hand in hand. right before i came out here i met with four former prisoners four exoffenders two of them were african-american. one of them was latino, and one of them was white. all of them had amazing stories, one of them dropped out of school when he was a young kid now he is making film about his experience in the prison system. one of them served ten years in prison and then got a job at

five guys which is a tasty burger and they gave him an opportunity and rose up and became a general manager there and is doing anti-violence work here in the community. one of them, the young latino man, he came out of prison and was given an opportunity to get trained on green jobs that are helping the environment but also gave him a marketable skill and he talked about how the way he is staying out of trouble is he just keeps on thinking about his two daughters and i could row late to that, you don't want to disappoint your daughters, disappoint the baby girls and he said i go to work and i come home and i grab little baby and get a kiss. and that is keeping me focused and one of them jeff copeland

was arrested six times before his 35th birthday. he was drinking using drugs racked up dui after dui and sentence after sentence. and admits that the sentences he was getting for dui were not reflective of all the trouble he was causing and jeff spent so much time jogging in place in his cell that inmates nicknamed him the running man. and he was literally going nowhere. running in place. and then some how jeff started scamming his life and said this season me and decided to it hold himself accountable and quit drinking and when to aa and met with a recruiter and

enrolled in classes one with he was released and showed up every day, and graduated with honors and will graduate this may from temple with a major in criminal justice and focuses on helping inmates get their lives back on track and it's a cliche but he says we can do anything and just two years ago the running man ran his marathon because he is going somewhere now. you never look at crossing the finish line, he says of his journey, you attack it by putting one mile out to the other, it takes steps steps. that is true for individuals it's true for our nation.

you know sometimes i get into debate debates about thinking about the progress or lack of progress when it comes to issues of race and inequality in america. there are times when people say, oh the president he is too optimistic or not talking about how bad things are. all right let me tell you something, i see what happens. >> my heart breaks when i see families who are impacted. i spend time with the families. and feel their grief. i see those young men in street corners and eventually in prisons and think to myself they could be me.

the main difference is i had a more forgiving environment and when i slipped up i got another chance. i know how hard things are for a lot of of folks. but i also know that it takes steps and if we had the courage to take the first step then we take a second step and if we have the courage to take the second step and then suddenly you have taken 100 steps that is true of individuals and true for us as a nation. we are not perfect but we have

the capacity to be more perfect. mile after mile. step after step. they pile up one after the other and pretty son that finish line gets into sight and we are not where we were, we are in a better place because we have the courage to move forward, we cannot ignore the problems we had but we can't stop running the race. that is how you win the race. how you fix a broken system, how you change a country. the naacp understands that. thank about the race you have run. think about the race ahead. if we cope taking steps ahead for a more perfect union and close the gap from who we are and who we want to be america will move forward. there is nothing we can't do.

thank you and god bless you god bless the united states of america. >> are you listening to president obama speaking to the naacp convention in philadelphia his speech today had to do with the criminal justice system and enequities in the system and racial disparities. >> we'll have a live report from there coming up at 6:00 p.m., well continue with "action news."

effectively shut down the country's fram for the next 15 years. the sanctions would now be lifted and the dole is getting a lot of push back tonight. >> reporter: negotiators in

vienna vienna emorning after intense talk from keeping iran from developing a weapon. >> today now that america negotiated with a position of strength and principle, we stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in this area. >> it's a big step for president obama, in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions on iran and in a compromise on a critical sticking point an arms embargo will be lifted overtime. iran today calling the deal a win win but not everyone agrees with this move, israel is blasting the agreement. >> the world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday and in washington lawmakers who now have 60 days to study the deal.

>> it paves the way for a nuclear iran. >> but the president has vowed to veto any attempts to stan in the way of the government. >> this is about mistrust and verify, about definitive steps that iran has to take to dismantle its equipment and set up a system so we can watch them 24/7 the president is working the phones to try to sell the deal and making a personal phone call to the israeli prime minister to try and smooth things over. >> world news tonight with david muir has more on this historic iranian deal includeling the battle it faces in congress you can watch that following "action news" at 6:00. back here now lets get a check of traffic situation tonight. >> not a great deal for those driving through delco rick and monica, big northbound delays on 95 an accident at the commodore

barry bridge, penndot remains on the scene as do police and the two right lanes squeezing by at the commodore barry bridge. and plenty of time required traveling through center city, the president is in town and by the convention center, ray street is blocked off and he will be making his way to rittenhouse and that means rolling closures and closures on the eastbound vine and southbound 95 as he heads back to the airport. this afternoon the vine eastbound is backed up with afternoon volume and a crash on the kelly drive at boathouse rod. rick and monica back over to you. much more to head, when "action news" at 5:00 comes right back.

>> the man who killed his hospital case worker and shot a psychiatrist in delaware county plead guilty but he did so under the classification of mentally ill that means he is

criminally responsible but also mentally ill. silver man returned fire and wounded platz and he will be sentenced in september. we are looking at the heart stopping landing of a skydiving plane on a busy south jersey roadway. the stafford police department released a traffic cam video the small white plane lands on route 72 sunday morning, the plane was carrying students to a jump and suddenly lost power the pilot was forced to land, and it happened to be route 72 only one instructor had a cut on his arm. nobody else was hurt on the plane or the land. >> the "action news" big board now with new details on a bar room involving quarterback

deandre johnson, speaking out and apologizing for this incident where he was capture itted on camera punching a woman in the face, johnson was released from the highly touted program and charged with battery and he sat down exclusively to talk about what happened. the young teenager knew he should have walked away from the situation. >> there is no explanation for that. >> i totally should have walked away i'm sorry if i could do it all over again i would. >> johnson's attorney says his client was not the instigator and the young lady was using racial slurs and johnson says he knows better. >> who did you let down the most? >> my mother she did not raise me this way. it kills me inside to know that

i hurt her heart. >> i cry. i just cry i cried for three days and i still cry because i don't teach my kids to raise their hands. johnson is focusing on education with a battered women shelter and in the meantime he knows why he was let go from the football program and respects their decision but hopes he will get a second chance. over to rick and monica. >> adam joseph is here with a closer look at the forecast. >> it's wet aat times south and most and overnight tonight showers and thunderstorms passing through and in the midnight hours as we look at radar, downpours in central parts of southern new jersey today, there are a couple of areas that popped up over the past hour or so a thunderstorm

near yardley releasing a lot of rain, 14 lightning strikes heading into northern and central mercer county away from buck county and winds of 20 miles per hour and this storm is not severe or creating flooding but there is a lot of rain being row leased. to the south a thunderstorm that has popped up to the north and west of hammonton to the atlantic city expressway. east of glassboro as it approaches towards berlin quick heavy rain as that passes by but no severe weather with the storms at this point. temperatures at the shore are in the upper 70s and low 80s, that is a sea breeze the ocean is near 80 degrees and not much in the way of relief as you have the wind coming off the water because the ocean is so warm this time of year, wilmington 85 and philadelphia trying to recover from a thunderstorm

that dropped the temperature to 79 and bumped up to 82 and our present temperature 82 degrees. some of these storms at state college are severe, they will move to the east and weaken overnight but around the 11:00 hour if you hear the rumble of thunder that is the the area you'll hear when we are sleeping, 69 to 74. for the overnight low. it means more thunderstorms will pop and wilmington to the coast 85 degrees and fresh high pressure comes in for thursday a beautiful day, low humidity 82 with the refreshing breeze coming in from the north warm ocean waters in the upper 70s and tomorrow aafter the shore looks dry the first part of the

day and a soggy afternoon with downpours developing and a high temperature of 84 degrees the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast, 85 tomorrow and again unsettled in the afternoon especially new jersey and delaware and a summer beauty on tap for thursday and mimic it on friday, really back to back breathtaking days for this summer that is very humid we catch a break from it it returns over the weekend, humid and hot upper 80s to 90 and a few thunderstorms on sunday into monday and if we hit 90 three days in a row it will be heat wave number two still an tack tifr night tonight and tomorrow. adam thank you. >> this reminder, stay ahead of severe weather for the 6 abc app. when you see severe weather happening we want to know about it send your pictures to join

the action at 6abc.com or post it on social media, #6abcaction.

president obama addresses the naacp convention in philadelphia. and a fatal crash in wilmington we'll have exclusive details in a live report. they have so many stad days but today was about fun for officers killed in the line of duty in new jersey, i'm nora muchanic in seaside heights and i'll have the story coming up. >> for adam joseph cecily tynan, and the entire "action news" team, have a good night. "action news" is next.

> >> "action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with ducis rogers meteorologist, cecily tynan, and jim gardner. >> tuesday night monsignor william lynn is transferred from a philadelphia jail to a state prison and an invasive bug turns up in pennsylvania but the big story is president obama in philadelphia tonight talking aboutish yous critically important to the minority commune obama rived at philadelphia international airport at 3:30 this afternoon obama growthed well wishers while preparing to talk about education and job training and the criminal justice system and race in a speech before the naacp convention at the pennsylvania convention center,

live at the center is john rawlins. what is the reaction to the president's speech tonight? >> reporter: well, lets get to the message, it's known as mass incarceration, too many people in jail for the wrong reasons, to put it shortly, too many for long mandatory sentences for what he described as non-violent drug offenders. >> lets look at the statistics, the united states is home to 5% of the world's population. but 25% of the world's prissoner prisoners, think about that our incarceration rate is four times higher than china's. but over the last few decades we have locked up more and more