Rewiring the system.

• Position: Ed Burns - Brief article

Ed Burns is co-creator of HBO's critically acclaimed series The Wire, which just concluded its fifth and final season, and coproducer of Generation Kill, a forthcoming HBO miniseries based on journalist Evan Wright's book about the first stages of the war in Iraq. Burns, a Vietnam veteran, is a former police officer and public school teacher. An outspoken critic of the drugwar, the growth of prisons, and the structure, incentives, and organization of police departments, Burns listed three reforms that would improve the criminal justice system when he spoke with reason in February.

1 End drug prohibition. "I'd definitely decriminalize drugs."

2 Change priorities. "We need to stop warehousing people in prisons. Nonviolent offenders...