WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker used a nationally televised town hall on criminal justice Sunday to tout his legislation that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana.

Booker, who has made overhauling the criminal justice system a top priority since coming to the Senate, shared the stage with three other African American lawmakers. They were fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Reps. Val Demings, D-Fla., and Karen Bass, D-Calif.

The one-hour town hall meeting aired on BET, a cable channel geared toward black audiences.

For Booker and Harris, it was a chance for the two leading black Democratic presidential candidates to discuss an issue of primary importance to a minority community disproportionately singled out by law enforcement. For example, Booker said, black people are four times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana even though both groups use the drug equally.

During a discussion on re-entry programs, Booker cited the provision in his Marijuana Justice Act to create a community reinvestment fund where residents had been adversely impacted by the current drug laws. That money would be earmarked for job training and other programs to help former prisoners re-enter society and community centers.

In addition, states would be encouraged to change those marijuana laws shown to have disproportionately affected minorities and low-income individuals.

“We’re going to, No. 1, all those tax dollars you’re getting should be reinvested in communities most impacted by this and then No. 2, we are going to take money away from states who don’t change their marijuana laws and their laws to help to empower people who were formerly had been incarcerated,” Booker said. Booker brought up his bill after Harris was asked about her record as a former county and state prosecutor in California.

She talked about her plan not to put people behind bars but to develop re-entry programs to provide former prisoners with alternatives to returning to crime.

“Prosecutors are rewarded for having high conviction rates,” Harris said. “We should be grading them not on conviction rates but public safety."

“Don’t let the federal government off the hook,” Booker responded. "We put in a 1994 crime bill that gave all kinds of incentives to states to change bills and to build prisons. We should be doing things on the other side now to incentivize states to do the right ting.

And Bass, the current chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said such laws actually increased crime by making it impossible for ex-prisoners to find a job.

“If you don’t allow people to work in the legal economy, people are going to work in the illegal economy,” she said.

Other topics discussed were the large number of minorities in prison and the number of poor people behind bars simply because they can’t afford to pay bail.

“It’s an economic justice issue,” Harris said. “People are sitting in jail because they simply can’t afford to get out pending trials, which can be days, weeks or even years."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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