for the children's defense fund, which david had mentioned i was so fortunate to work with mary ann wright adelman and then serving on the board of the children's defense fund was studying the problem then of youth, teenagers, sometimes preteens incarcerated in adult jails. then as director of the university of arkansas school of law's legal aid clinic i advocated on behalf of prison inmates and poor families. i saw repeatedly how our legal system can be and all too often is stacked against those who have the least power, who are the most vulnerable. i saw how families could be and were torn apart by excessive incarceration. i saw the toll on children growing up in homes shattered by poverty and prison. so, unfortunately, i know these are not new challenges by any means. in fact, they have become even more complex and urgent over time, and today they demand fresh thinking and bold action from all of us. today there seems to be a growing bipartisan movement for common sense reforms in our criminal justice system. senators as disparate on the political spectrum as cory booker and rand paul and dick