Senate Republicans block National Criminal Justice Commission Act

Want a sense for how difficult it is to reform the U.S. prison system? Last night in the Senate, Jim Webb put forward his long-awaited bill to create a 14-member commission to examine federal, state and local criminal-justice practices. The commission would’ve looked at everything from prison overcrowding to drug-war policies and made recommendations for how to reduce the overall incarceration rate, tamp down on prison violence and improve mental-health treatment. That’s it. A non-binding, blue-ribbon commission. Even conservative and law-enforcement groups had backed it as a reasonable first step.


 

 And yet it failed. Fifty-seven senators voted for it, 43, all Republicans, voted against it. That wasn’t enough to overcome a filibuster. Two Republicans, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn and Texas’s Kay Bailey Hutchison, argued that the federal government would be overstepping its constitutional bounds by spending $5 million to study state and local justice systems, according to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “We are absolutely ignoring the Constitution if we do this,” Coburn said.

Radley Balko smells hypocrisy: “The drug war is as direct and aggressive an assault on federalism and the power of states and localities to make their own criminal justice policy as anything else the federal government does. Yet Hutchison, Coburn and the rest of the GOP senators who killed the Webb bill all support it,” he writes. “Along comes a bill that would create a committee to make some non-binding suggestions … and suddenly all of these GOP senators get a case of the constitutional vapors.”

For context, here’s an old piece that Webb wrote for Parade magazine about why he’s so obsessed with prison reform (the piece contains the usual mind-numbing stats — one in every 31 U.S. adults is in prison, jail or supervised release; we now spend $68 billion per year on corrections). And here’s an old Washington Post profile of Webb’s crusade to reform the justice system. Once Webb retires from the Senate in 2012, it’s unclear who else, if anyone, is going to take up this contentious issue with such an intense focus. Which means it’s hard to see reforms getting any easier.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/senate-republicans-block-prison-reform-study/2011/10/21/gIQAKiE13L_blog.html

Criminal Justice Commission gaining steam

From the ACLU website:

A Path Forward to Criminal Justice Policy that Keeps us Safe and Reflects our Values

Today, there are over 2.3 million men and women in prisons throughout the United States. We incarcerate more of our population than any country in the world, and the increased incarceration of offenders with drug offenses represents the most significant source of growth. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, our government spends nearly $69 billion on our correctional system alone.

While everyone agrees that government must not compromise when it comes to preserving public safety, the fact remains that many people are incarcerated for non-violent, low-level offenses and could be held accountable using alternatives that are not only less costly, but also more effective.
Take the case of Hamedah Hasan, who when 21 years old found herself in an incredibly abusive relationship with a man in Portland, Oregon. She moved hundreds of miles away to Omaha, Nebraska hoping to escape her violent ex-boyfriend. But the cousin that she moved in with was dealing crack cocaine and asked her to run errands and wire money. Under drug conspiracy laws she was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Even the judge who sentenced Hasan recognized the unfairness of the sentence imposed, writing in a letter to the Department of Justice Pardon Attorney's Office, "I can say, without equivocation, that Ms. Hasan is deserving of the President's mercy. I have never supported such a request in the past, and I doubt that I will support another one in the future. That said, in this unique case, justice truly cries out for relief." Hamedah remains in prison, along with countless other people being warehoused for far too long in the federal system — at skyrocketing costs to taxpayers — because of unfair sentencing policies.

Today, Sen. Jim Webb filed an amendment to the Senate's Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that would create a bipartisan commission tasked with examining our nation's criminal justice system and offering reform recommendations in a number of important areas including rates of incarceration, law enforcement, substance abuse treatment, and reentry policies.
The idea of a national criminal justice commission has gained bipartisan support in Congress as well as support from a range of stakeholder groups representing law enforcement, state and local governments.

Supporters of this amendment include prominent law enforcement organizations, such as the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Narcotics Officer's Associations' Coalition, and the International Union of Police Associations, as well as state and local government organizations, such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Criminal Justice Association, and National Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities. Additionally, over 150 civil rights, criminal justice, community-based, and faith-based organizations have expressed their support for the adoption of this amendment.

WOW!

A bipartisan national criminal justice commission will create the political space for policy makers to engage in frank and thoughtful dialogue about the significant shortcomings of our current system. It is an important first step toward creating criminal justice policy that not only keeps us safe but also reflects our values.

You can help. Tell the Senate to adopt meaningful criminal justice reform now.

Yes, do your part. This is an incredible opportunity to impact criminal justice policy--to make it more well planned and less "nonsense."

And check this article out. Nice timing, no?

Crunching the numbers on criminal justice

October 19, 2011 A new report finds that subjecting criminal justice policy proposals to cost-benefit analysis would show that many "get tough" policies take an outsized toll on taxpayers and society.

Decisions about criminal justice policy have historically been driven largely by politics, ideology and fear rather than research and hard data. The political toxicity of the “soft on crime” label in particular has created nearly unremitting upward pressure in the harshness of measures including three strikes laws, mandatory minimums, and longer sentences.

 

But the result has been an era of mass incarceration, with disastrous effects on some communities -- and at enormous cost to the taxpayer. 

 

So the question arises: In an economic downturn, when state funding is scarce and legislatures are on the lookout for even the smallest of budget cuts, could smarter criminal justice decisions bring better results with a smaller price tag? 

 

A new report out today from NYU's Institute for Policy Integrity encourages policymakers to apply an economic analysis to criminal justice policy.  And such an analysis, the report says, would reach this conclusion: "Public safety can be prioritized and even improved at a lower cost than traditional incarceration, using techniques like behavioral therapy for young offenders, intensive supervision, or a new iteration of a drug court."

 

WOW!

 

The Nieman Watchdog Project asked the Institute for Policy Integrity what questions reporters should be asking policymakers about criminal justice decisions going forward. Their suggestions:

 

Q. Has an independent appraisal of costs to taxpayers been conducted?

 

Q. If so, have all of the direct and indirect benefits -- to victims, to offenders, to offenders' families, and to society writ large -- been considered?

 

The policy that results in lower recidivism rates will often be the one with the greatest benefit to society. Reporters should ask:

 

Q. Which policy will reduce recidivism rates most?

 

Q. Have the all the benefits of having fewer repeat offenders been considered?

 

These benefits will include the cost-savings of having fewer people victimized, fewer prosecutions, fewer inmates. But there's also the benefits of increased lifetime earnings and improved quality of life for victims, offenders, and offenders' families.

 

http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00533

The National Criminal Justice Commission is STILL in the news

Read it!

The National Criminal Justice Commission Act would go a long way toward changing the way we deal with crime in the US:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/11/jim-webb-s-criminal-justice-crusade.html

National Criminal Justice Commission!

The last time a presidential commission studied criminal justice was in the 1960s! And things have steadily gotten worse in criminal justice since then.

Think significant racial bias so that today prisons are literally being built on the "backs of blacks."

Think that there are MORE African Americans in prison than in college.

Think 20% of state prison inmates are drug offenders and more than half of federal prison inmates are drug
offenders, even as drugs are still widely available and drug use remains unchanged.

Think how we've largely abandoned rehabilitation, meaning offenders get out meaner, stronger, and more dangerous than when they went in.

Think of the unprecedented increase in prison populations even as crime falls.

And on and on.

Got this in an email from Senator Jim Webb (D-Va) today:

Bringing Fairness to the Criminal Justice System

Last Friday in Fairfax, I co-hosted a national forum on “Undoing the Effects of Mass Incarceration,” organized with George Mason University and the Prison Fellowship.   There, I addressed the critical need for criminal justice reform in our country and my efforts to tackle this national problem.

Today more than 7 million people are under the supervision of our criminal justice system, including 2.3 million in America’s jails and prisons -- the highest rate of reported incarceration anywhere in the world.   However, gang activity continues to threaten many communities and Americans report feeling less safe than they did a few years ago.

As a nation we spend $68 billion every year just to lock up people, many of whom are non-violent offenders. We lose billions more in lost productivity due to ineffective re-entry programs. The high costs of incarceration divert scarce financial resources from the very programs that help police fight crime.

By working together, we can be smarter about whom we incarcerate, improve public safety outcomes, make better use of taxpayer dollars, and bring greater fairness to our criminal justice system.

To achieve this, I introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act in 2009, which would initiate a full review of the nation’s criminal justice system and offer recommendations to Congress for reform.  The bill was endorsed by organizations from across the political spectrum, including major law enforcement and civil rights groups. The House of Representatives approved the bill last year with overwhelming bipartisan support. As the new Congress begins, I am committed to seeing this important legislation signed into law.

You can read more about the National Criminal Justice Commission Act by clicking here.