Inside The Koch Campaign To Reform Criminal Justice

WASHINGTON — Koch Industries, Inc., the corporation led by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, is holding discussions with a coalition of strange bedfellows to tackle criminal justice reform.

In conversations with people like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and organizations like the ACLU, the Koch brothers are homing in on reducing overcriminalization and mass incarceration, as well as reforming practices like civil forfeiture. Progressives, rather than giving the Kochs the stink eye, are welcoming their efforts.

Koch Industries general counsel and senior vice president Mark Holden told The Huffington Post that he met with Booker and his staff a few weeks ago. The New Jersey Democrat and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are co-sponsoring the REDEEM Act, legislation that would give states incentives to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 18, among other reforms.

Like other elements of their political activism, Koch Industries’ interest in reforming criminal law can be traced, in part, back to their bottom line. The company has said it first became interested in criminal justice after its experience with a 1995 case in Corpus Christi, in which it was accused of dozens of alleged environmental crimes before the charges were dropped and Koch Petroleum Group LP only pleaded to a concealment of information charge. That case “got us to thinking about what might be happening out there to the average person,” Holden said.

But organizations that work on criminal justice reform say they believe the Kochs’ efforts are sincere and not monetary.

“I think there are some people that worry perhaps the Kochs might be prioritizing things like environmental crime, or crimes more likely to impact white people with means,” said Alison Holcomb, the national director of the ACLU’s Campaign to End Mass Incarceration. “My experience so far has been that they are genuinely interested in the issues across the board.”

The Huffington Post